Delivery assistance device, delivery assistance method, and recording medium

ABSTRACT

A delivery assistance device assists in an operation of a delivery service in which a vehicle cabin including a trunk of a vehicle used by a requester is able to be designated as a luggage delivery destination. The delivery assistance device includes a key information distribution unit configured to distribute key information that a deliverer of a company that provides the delivery service is to use to unlock a door for access to the vehicle cabin of the vehicle, to the company, and an entry authority information distribution unit configured to distribute entry authority information regarding an authority for the deliverer to enter a predetermined area in which the vehicle is present, to the company when the key information is distributed to the company by the key information distribution unit.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

This is a continuation application of U.S. Patent application No.16/213,129, filed Dec. 7, 2018, which claims the disclosure of JapanesePatent Application No. 2017-242067 filed on Dec. 18, 2017 including thespecification, drawings and abstract are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a delivery assistance device, adelivery assistance method, and a non-transitory computer-readablerecording medium recording a delivery assistance program.

2. Description of Related Art

For example, a mechanism for using a vehicle cabin of a vehicle such asa trunk as a delivery destination of luggage is disclosed (see JapaneseUnexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-206225 (JP2006-206225 A) or the like).

Specifically, authentication information (key information) for unlockingthe vehicle is distributed to a delivery company (for example, a mobileterminal possessed by a deliverer). When a predetermined transmissionsignal including the key information is transmitted from the mobileterminal possessed by the deliverer to the vehicle and authenticationbased on the key information included in the transmission signal issuccessful on the vehicle side, a door (for example, a trunk lid or aback door) for access to the trunk of the vehicle is unlocked.Accordingly, the deliverer can accommodate the luggage in the trunk.Therefore, the delivery company can provide a customer with a deliveryservice in which the vehicle cabin such as the trunk of the vehicle canbe designated as a delivery destination (hereinafter referred to as a“vehicle cabin delivery service”).

SUMMARY

However, for example, a vehicle corresponding to a delivery destinationmay be parked within an area in which an authority for entry is needed,such as a site of an apartment with a gate for monitoring entry vehiclesor a site of a company or a facility in which a permission for entry isneeded. Therefore, by merely providing solely key information forunlocking the vehicle to a delivery company, a deliverer of the deliverycompany cannot enter the area in which the authority for entry isneeded, and as a result, there is a likelihood of luggage being unableto be delivered into a vehicle cabin of the vehicle.

Therefore, the present disclosure provides a delivery assistance device,a delivery assistance method, and a non-transitory computer-readablerecording medium recording a delivery assistance program that enables adeliverer to deliver luggage into a vehicle cabin of a vehicle even in acase where a vehicle is present within an area in which authority forentry is needed in a delivery service in which the vehicle cabin of thevehicle used by a user is able to be designated as a luggage deliverydestination.

A first aspect of the present disclosure relates to a deliveryassistance device that assists in an operation of a delivery service inwhich a vehicle cabin including a trunk of a vehicle used by a requesteris able to be designated as a luggage delivery destination.

The delivery assistance device includes a key information distributionunit configured to distribute key information that a deliverer of acompany that provides the delivery service is to use to unlock a doorfor access to the vehicle cabin of the vehicle, to the company; and anentry authority information distribution unit configured to distributeentry authority information regarding an authority for the deliverer toenter a predetermined area in which the vehicle is present, to thecompany when the key information is distributed to the company by thekey information distribution unit.

According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the deliveryassistance device can provide (distribute) not only the key informationfor unlocking a door of the vehicle but also the entry authorityinformation on the authority to enter the predetermined area in whichthe vehicle is present, to the delivery company. Accordingly, thedeliverer of the delivery company can enter the predetermined area usingthe entry authority information to be distributed. Therefore, even whenthe vehicle is present within the area in which the authority for entryis needed, the delivery assistance device can construct a mechanism bywhich the deliverer can deliver the luggage into the vehicle cabin ofthe vehicle.

The delivery assistance device according to the first aspect of thepresent disclosure may further include a determination unit configuredto determine whether or not the vehicle is present within thepredetermined area when the luggage is delivered to the vehicle cabin bythe deliverer. In a case where the key information is distributed, theentry authority information distribution unit may distribute the entryauthority information to the company when the determination unit hasdetermined that the vehicle is present within the predetermined areawhen the luggage is delivered to the vehicle cabin by the deliverer.

According to the above aspect, the delivery assistance device canprovide (distribute) the entry authority information to the deliverycompany solely in a case where the vehicle is present in thepredetermined area when the deliverer delivers the luggage into thevehicle cabin of the vehicle. Therefore, the delivery assistance devicecan restrict an opportunity for the delivery company to inappropriatelyuse the entry authority information. Therefore, the delivery assistancedevice can provide the entry authority information for entry to thepredetermined area to the delivery company while maintaining thesecurity regarding a predetermined area in which an authority for entryis needed.

The delivery assistance device according to the first aspect of thepresent disclosure may further include a vehicle position informationacquisition unit configured to acquire position information of thevehicle. The determination unit may determine whether or not the vehicleis present within the predetermined area based on the positioninformation of the vehicle when the luggage is delivered to the vehiclecabin by the deliverer.

According to the above aspect, based on the position information of thevehicle, the delivery assistance device can ascertain, for example,whether or not the vehicle is present within the predetermined area inwhich the authority for entry is needed or whether or not the vehicle ismoving toward the predetermined area. Therefore, the delivery assistancedevice can determine whether or not the vehicle is present within thepredetermined area, specifically, when the luggage is delivered to thevehicle cabin of the vehicle based on the position information of thevehicle.

The delivery assistance device according to the first aspect of thepresent disclosure may further include a schedule informationacquisition unit configured to acquire information on a schedule of auser of the vehicle including the requester. The determination unit maydetermine whether or not the vehicle is present within the predeterminedarea based on the information on a schedule when the luggage isdelivered to the vehicle cabin by the deliverer.

According to the above aspect, the delivery assistance device canpredict, for example, whether a user of the vehicle is staying in abuilding, a facility, or the like corresponding to a predetermined areain which an authority for entry is needed in the scheduled delivery timeof the luggage based on the schedule information of the user of thevehicle. Accordingly, based on the schedule information of the user ofthe vehicle, the delivery assistance device can determine whether thevehicle is present within the predetermined area, specifically, when theluggage is delivered to the vehicle cabin of the vehicle.

The delivery assistance device according to the first aspect of thepresent disclosure may further include an action pattern informationacquisition unit configured to acquire information on an action patternof a user of the vehicle including the requester. The determination unitmay determine whether or not the vehicle is present within thepredetermined area based on the information on the action pattern whenthe luggage is delivered to the vehicle cabin by the deliverer.

According to the above aspect, the delivery assistance device forexample can ascertain that a certain user of the vehicle parks thevehicle within a site of a company in which an authority for entry isneeded and stays at the company during a daytime of a weekday based onthe action pattern information of the user of the vehicle. Therefore,based on the action pattern information of the user of the vehicle, thedelivery assistance device can determine whether or not the vehicle ispresent within the predetermined area, specifically, when the luggage isdelivered to the vehicle cabin of the vehicle.

In the delivery assistance device according to the first aspect of thepresent disclosure, the entry authority information may be used by thedeliverer in an aspect in which the entry authority information isincluded in a predetermined transmission signal to be transmitted from amobile terminal possessed by the deliverer to a predetermined devicethat determines whether or not there is an authority to enter thepredetermined area or in an aspect in which the entry authorityinformation is displayed on a display device of the mobile terminal andrecognized by the predetermined device.

According to the above aspect, the delivery assistance device,specifically, can distribute, to the delivery company, the entryauthority information that can be used in an aspect in which the entryauthority information is included in a predetermined transmission signalto be transmitted to a predetermined device that determines whether ornot there is the entry authority, which is installed in an entrancegate. Specifically, the delivery assistance device can distribute, tothe delivery company, the entry authority information that can be usedin an aspect in which the entry authority information is displayed on adisplay of the mobile terminal possessed by the deliverer, or the likeand recognized by a predetermined device that determines whether or notthere is an entry authority by being held over the predetermined device.

In the delivery assistance device according to the first aspect of thepresent disclosure, the entry authority information distribution unitmay distribute the entry authority information that is able to be usedfor a predetermined period of time or by a predetermined number of timesneeded for delivery of the luggage, to the company.

According to the above aspect, the delivery assistance device canrestrict a period of time of use or the number of times of use of theentry authority information and can restrict an opportunity for thedelivery company to inappropriately use the entry authority information.Therefore, the delivery assistance device can provide entry authorityinformation for entry to the predetermined area to the delivery companywhile maintaining the security regarding the predetermined area in whichthe authority for entry is needed.

A second aspect of the present disclosure relates to a deliveryassistance method executed by a delivery assistance device that assistsin an operation of a delivery service in which a vehicle cabin includinga trunk of a vehicle used by a requester is able to be designated as aluggage delivery destination. The delivery assistance method includesdistributing key information that a deliverer of a company that providesthe delivery service is to use to unlock a door for access to thevehicle cabin of the vehicle, to the company; and distributing entryauthority information regarding an authority for the deliverer to entera predetermined area in which the vehicle is present, to the companywhen the key information is distributed to the company in thedistributing of the key information.

A third aspect of the present disclosure relates to a non-transitorycomputer-readable recording medium recording a delivery assistanceprogram. The delivery assistance program causes a delivery assistancedevice assisting in an operation of a delivery service in which avehicle cabin including a trunk of a vehicle used by a requester is ableto be designated as a luggage delivery destination to execute thedelivery assistance method according to the second aspect of the presentdisclosure.

According to the aspects of the present disclosure, it is possible toprovide a delivery assistance device, a delivery assistance method, anda non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recording a deliveryassistance program that enables a deliverer to deliver luggage into avehicle cabin of a vehicle even in a case where a vehicle is presentwithin an area in which authority for entry is needed in a deliveryservice in which the vehicle cabin of the vehicle used by a user is ableto be designated as a luggage delivery destination.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features, advantages, and technical and industrial significance ofexemplary embodiments of the disclosure will be described below withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals denotelike elements, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an overall configurationof an authentication key management system;

FIG. 2 is a diagram mainly illustrating an example of a configurationregarding locking and unlocking of a vehicle in the authentication keymanagement system;

FIG. 3 is a diagram mainly illustrating an example of a configurationregarding a key sharing service in the authentication key managementsystem;

FIG. 4 is a diagram mainly illustrating an example of a configurationregarding a trunk delivery service in the authentication key managementsystem;

FIG. 5 is a diagram mainly illustrating an example of a configurationregarding a consumer to consumer (C2C) car sharing service in theauthentication key management system;

FIG. 6 is a diagram mainly illustrating an example of a configurationregarding a business to consumer (B2C) car sharing service in theauthentication key management system;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart schematically showing an example of anauthentication key distribution process of a center server; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart schematically showing another example of theauthentication key distribution process of the center server.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, modes for carrying out the disclosure will be describedwith reference to the drawings.

Overall Configuration of Authentication Key Management System

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an overallconfiguration of a key management system 1 according to the embodiment.

An authentication key management system 1 includes a vehicle 10, amobile terminal 20, a center server 30, and a service management server40.

The vehicle 10 can perform wireless communication (hereinafter referredto as “near field communication”) with the mobile terminal 20 at arelatively short distance (a distance that allows communication betweenthe inside of a vehicle cabin and the outside of the vehicle cabin)according to a predetermined communication standard. The vehicle 10 is atarget on which locking and unlocking of doors and activation (ignitionon) of the vehicle 10 are performed based on transmission signals (anauthentication request, a locking request, and an unlocking request tobe described below) from the mobile terminal 20. The door of the vehicle10 may include not only a door for getting on and off, but also a doorfor a luggage (for example, a trunk lid or a back door) for accessing atrunk (a luggage room). The ignition on (IG-ON) of the vehicle 10 mayinclude ON of a power supply to an electric motor in the vehicle 10using the electric motor as a main power source, in addition to startupof an engine in the vehicle 10 using the engine as a main power source.Hereinafter, in the embodiment, description will be given on the premisethat the vehicle 10 includes an engine 117 to be described below as amain power source, the activation (IG-ON) of the vehicle 10 correspondsto startup of the engine 117, and stopping (IG-OFF) of the vehicle 10corresponds to stopping of the engine 117.

The vehicle 10 is communicably connected to the center server 30 over apredetermined communication network (for example, a mobile phone networkor an Internet network in which a plurality of base stations isterminations). The vehicle 10 transmits vehicle information of positioninformation to the center server 30, as described below.

The vehicle 10 includes a vehicle 10A owned by an individual and avehicle 10B owned by a company providing a business to consumer (B2C)car sharing service.

The mobile terminal 20 is communicably connected to the center server 30over a predetermined communication network (for example, a mobile phonenetwork or an Internet network in which a plurality of base stations isterminations). The mobile terminal 20 can unlock or lock the vehicle 10by acquiring authentication key information (an example of keyinformation. The authentication key information is hereinafter referredto as “authentication key”) distributed from the center server 30 andtransmitting the acquired authentication key to the vehicle 10 throughrelatively short distance wireless communication according to apredetermined manipulation of the user. The mobile terminal 20 may be,for example, a general-purpose mobile phone, a smartphone, or a tabletterminal. As will be described below, a predetermined applicationprogram (hereinafter referred to as a “key application”) installed inthe built-in processing device 23 is activated, and thereby, theabove-described function may be realized. The mobile terminal 20 may bea dedicated mobile terminal specialized for unlocking of the doors ofthe vehicle 10 and activation of the vehicle 10 by acquiring theauthentication key from the center server 30 and using the acquiredauthentication key. The mobile terminal 20 includes mobile terminals20Aa to 20Ad corresponding to the vehicle 10A and a mobile terminal 20Bcorresponding to the vehicle 10B.

The mobile terminal 20Aa is a mobile terminal carried by an owner(hereinafter referred to as an “owner user”) among regular users of thevehicle 10A (hereinafter referred to as “regular users”). The mobileterminal 20Aa may bidirectionally communicate with the mobile terminal20Ab through wireless communication at a relatively short distance.

The mobile terminal 20Ab is a mobile terminal carried by a regular userother than the owner user of the vehicle 10A (for example, including afamily member of the owner user and a close friend of the owner user.The regular user is hereinafter referred to as a “sub-user”).

The sub-user may include a user who does not drive the vehicle 10A or auser who cannot drive (for example, an owner user's child under 18 yearsof age). This is because, for example, when solely a trunk deliveryservice to be described below is used, the regular user does not need todrive the vehicle 10A.

The mobile terminal 20Ac is carried by a deliverer of a company thatprovides a trunk delivery service to be described below (hereinaftersimply referred to as a “delivery company”). The mobile terminal 20Ac iscommunicably connected to the center server 30 and a delivery managementserver 50 to be described below over a predetermined communicationnetwork (for example, a mobile phone network or an Internet network inwhich a plurality of base stations is terminations).

The mobile terminal 20Ad is a mobile terminal carried by a borrower ofthe vehicle 10A in a consumer to consumer (C2C) car sharing service tobe described below. The mobile terminal 20Ad is communicably connectedto the center server 30 and a C2C car sharing management server 70 to bedescribed below over the predetermined communication network (forexample, a mobile phone network or an Internet network in which aplurality of base stations is terminations).

The mobile terminal 20B is a mobile terminal carried by the borrower ofthe vehicle 10B in a B2C car sharing service to be described below. Themobile terminal 20B is communicably connected to the center server 30and a B2C car sharing management server 80 to be described below overthe predetermined communication network (for example, a mobile phonenetwork or an Internet network in which a plurality of base stations isterminations).

The center server 30 is communicably connected to the vehicle 10, themobile terminal 20, and the service management server 40.

The center server 30 manages issuance of an authentication key of thevehicle 10. For example, the center server 30 issues the authenticationkey according to a predetermined condition and distributes theauthentication key to the mobile terminal 20.

The center server 30 acquires position information of the vehicle 10from the vehicle 10. Accordingly, the center server 30 can recognize theposition of the vehicle 10.

The center server 30 operates the car sharing service for sharing thevehicle 10A among a plurality of regular users including the owner userof the vehicle 10A. Specifically, the center server 30 operates aservice for sharing the authentication key of the vehicle 10A that eachof a plurality of pre-registered regular users including the owner usercan acquire in the mobile terminal 20 of the regular user (the mobileterminals 20Aa, 20Ab) (a key sharing service).

The center server 30 performs a registration process (a use registrationprocess) of allowing the regular user of the vehicle 10A to use aservice for using the vehicle 10A (a key sharing service, a trunkdelivery service, a C2C car sharing service, or the like). Specifically,the center server 30 registers an authority to distribute theauthentication key to the predetermined mobile terminal 20 (hereinafterreferred to as an “authentication key arrangement authority”) by a keysharing management unit 3207 or a service management server 40 to bedescribed below transmitting an authentication key arrangement requestto be described below in order for the regular user of the vehicle 10Ato use the service for using the vehicle 10A.

The center server 30 manages a use situation of the vehicle 10A througha plurality of services (that is, a plurality of companies) through atrunk delivery service, a C2C car sharing service, and the like to bedescribed below.

The service management server 40 operates and manages various servicesthat are provided using the vehicle 10. The service management server 40includes a delivery management server 50 and an electronic commerce (EC)server 60 corresponding to the trunk delivery service, a C2C car sharingmanagement server 70 corresponding to the C2C car sharing service, a B2Ccar sharing management server 80 corresponding to the B2C car sharingservice.

The trunk delivery service may include a delivery service in which aproduct ordered at an EC site to be described below is a deliverytarget, and a delivery service in which a product other than the productordered at the EC site is a delivery target. For example, the trunkdelivery service in which the product other than the product ordered atthe EC site is the delivery target is a service in which the regularuser of the vehicle 10A can change a delivery destination to the trunkof the vehicle 10A when there is a notification indicating that luggagedestined for home is scheduled to be delivered, from the deliverymanagement server 50 to the regular user of the vehicle 10A through ane-mail, an account of social networking service (SNS), or a specificapplication program activated at mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab.Hereinafter, in the embodiment, description will be given while focusingon the trunk delivery service in which the product ordered at the ECsite is the delivery target. An operation of each configuration relatedto the trunk delivery service to be described below can be appropriatelyapplied to an operation of each configuration in the trunk deliveryservice in which the product other than the product ordered at the ECsite is the delivery target.

The delivery management server 50 is communicably connected to themobile terminal 20Ac and the center server 30 over a predeterminedcommunication network, and performs an operation and management of adistribution system related to the trunk delivery service from receptionof the luggage to the delivery of the luggage to the trunk of thevehicle 10A.

A delivery company operating the delivery management server 50 mayprovide the regular user of the vehicle 10A with a delivery service inwhich a vehicle cabin other than the trunk of the vehicle 10A can bedesignated as a delivery destination in place of the trunk of thevehicle 10A or in addition to the trunk of the vehicle 10A. Hereinafter,the delivery service in which the vehicle cabin (that is, the inside ofthe vehicle 10A) including the trunk of the vehicle 10A can bedesignated as the delivery destination is referred to as a “vehiclecabin delivery service”. The delivery company operating the deliverymanagement server 50 may provide the regular user of the vehicle 10Awith a collection service in which the vehicle cabin including a trunkcan be designated as a luggage collection source (hereinafter referredto as “vehicle cabin collection service”), as well as the vehicle cabindelivery service. That is, the delivery management server 50 may performan operation and management of the vehicle cabin collection service inplace of the vehicle cabin delivery service or in addition to thevehicle cabin delivery service. In this case, the luggage that is aluggage collection target may be a product (that is, a product purchasedat the EC site) returning to an operating company of the EC sitecorresponding to the EC server 60 (or a store opened at the EC site) ormay be luggage for delivery not related to the EC site. The vehiclecabin collection service may be realized as a collection service when acompany (for example, a company for cleaning of clothes or the like)that provides a service in a form of temporarily maintaining productsfrom a consumer keeps luggage from the regular user of the vehicle 10A.In this case, a cleaning company or the like may provide a collectionmanagement server that operates and manages the vehicle cabin collectionservice, which can be included in the service management server 40, asin the delivery management server 50. That is, the collection managementserver may be provided, in place of the delivery management server 50 orin addition to the delivery management server 50. A recovery service inwhich the vehicle cabin of the vehicle 10A can be designated as arecovery source of articles that are recovery targets (hereinafterreferred to as a “vehicle cabin recovery service”) may be provided tothe regular user of the vehicle 10A by a company that provides a servicein a form of recovering predetermined articles (articles such as wasteor a second-hand book desired to be purchased) from consumers (forexample, a waste recovery company or an antique purchase company). Inthis case, a recovery management server that operates and manages atrunk recovery service, which may be included in the service managementserver 40, may be provided by a waste recovery company or the like,similar to the delivery management server 50. That is, the recoverymanagement server may be provided, in place of the delivery managementserver 50 or in addition to the delivery management server 50.

The EC server 60 is communicably connected to the center server 30 andthe delivery management server 50 over a predetermined communicationnetwork, and operates a predetermined website (an EC site) for sellingproducts or services. More specifically, the EC server 60 displays thetrunk of the vehicle 10A as an option of the delivery destination on anorder screen of the EC site, for regular users of the vehicle 10A and adelivery company (a delivery company corresponding to the deliverymanagement server 50) that have been registered in advance. Accordingly,the regular user of the vehicle 10A can have the purchased productdelivered to the trunk of the vehicle 10A even when the regular user isabsent at home.

The C2C car sharing management server 70 is communicably connected tothe mobile terminal 20Ad and the center server 30, and performs anoperation and management of the C2C car sharing service that assists inlending and borrowing of the vehicle 10A between individuals. Forexample, the C2C car sharing management server 70 performs an operationand management of the C2C car sharing service such as reception ofregistration of a date and time when the vehicle 10A can be lent by theowner user, reception of reservation of use from a person who wants toborrow the vehicle 10A, and arrangement of the authentication key of thevehicle 10A. The C2C car sharing management server 70 may operate andmanage the C2C trunk sharing service in an aspect in which the inside ofthe vehicle cabin of the vehicle 10A of an individual or the trunkthereof is lent as a temporary luggage storage place, a luggage deliverydestination, or the like.

The B2C car sharing management server 80 is communicably connected tothe mobile terminal 20B and the center server 30, and performs anoperation and management of the B2C car sharing service in which thevehicle 10B owned by a predetermined company (for example, a provider ofthe B2C car sharing service) is lent in an aspect in which the vehicle10B can be shared among a plurality of general consumers. For example,the B2C car sharing management server 80 performs an operation andmanagement of the B2C car sharing service such as reception ofreservation of use of the vehicle 10B, and arrangement of a parkingposition of the vehicle 10B and the authentication key of the vehicle10B. The B2C car sharing management server 80 may operate and manage theB2C trunk sharing service in an aspect in which the inside of thevehicle cabin of the vehicle 10B or the trunk is lent as a temporaryluggage storage space or a luggage delivery destination.

A company car use management server that operates a car sharing service(a company car use management service) in which an employee of a companyis a borrower, with the vehicle 10 as a company car of the company beinga reservation of use target, may be included in the service managementserver 40, instead of the B2C car sharing management server 80 or inaddition to the B2C car sharing management server 80. In this case, whenthere is an idle time period of the vehicle 10, which is the companycar, the C2C car sharing management server 70 may operate the C2C carsharing service, with the vehicle 10 as a company car being a borrowingtarget. The delivery management server 50 and the EC server 60 mayoperate the trunk delivery service in which a delivery destination ofluggage to be delivered to a company can be designated as a trunk of thevehicle 10 that is a company car of the company.

Details of Configuration Regarding Locking, Unlocking, and Activation ofVehicle

A configuration regarding locking, unlocking, and activation of vehicle10 in the authentication key management system 1 will be described withreference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a diagram mainly illustrating an example of the configurationregarding locking, unlocking, and activation of the vehicle 10 in theauthentication key management system 1. The vehicle 10 includes alocking, unlocking and activation device 11, a key unit 12, a globalpositioning system (GPS) module 13, and a data communication module(DCM) 14.

The locking, unlocking and activation device 11 is attached to thevehicle 10 and performs unlocking and locking of the doors of thevehicle 10 according to a locking signal and an unlocking signal to betransmitted as radio waves in a radio frequency (RF) band (for example,300 MHz to 3 GHz) (hereinafter referred to as “RF radio waves”) from thekey unit 12. The locking, unlocking and activation device 11 activatesthe vehicle 10 according to exchange using radio waves in a lowfrequency (LF) band (for example, 30 Hz to 300 kHz) (hereinafterreferred to as “LF radio waves”) and RF radio waves with the key unitusing a pressing manipulation of an activation switch (not illustrated)provided in the vehicle cabin of the vehicle 10 as a trigger. Thelocking, unlocking and activation device 11 includes an LF radio wavetransmitter 111, an RF radio wave receiver 112, a collating electroniccontrol unit (ECU) 113, a body ECU 114, a door lock motor 115, an engineECU 116, and an engine 117 as a driving power source of the vehicle 10.

The locking, unlocking and activation device 11 operates with powersupplied from an auxiliary battery (not illustrated) mounted on thevehicle 10.

The LF radio wave transmitter 111 is embedded into, for example, acenter console or a door handle in the vehicle cabin, and transmits LFradio waves under the control of the collating ECU 113.

The RF radio wave receiver 112 is provided, for example, in a trim of aluggage room of the vehicle 10 and receives RF radio waves under thecontrol of the collating ECU 113.

The collating ECU 113 is an electronic control unit that controlslocking and unlocking of the doors of the vehicle 10 and activation ofthe vehicle 10 based on exchange of signals with the key unit 12. Thecollating ECU 113 is realized by any hardware, any software, or acombination of any hardware and any software. For example, the collatingECU 113 is configured mainly of a microcomputer includes a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory(ROM), an auxiliary storage device, a real time clock (RTC), and acommunication interface. The collating ECU 113 realizes various controlprocesses by executing various programs stored in the ROM or theauxiliary storage device on the CPU. Hereinafter, the same applies tothe key ECU 124 to be described below.

The collating ECU 113 receives an unlocking signal and a locking signaltransmitted as RF radio waves from the key unit 12 using the RF radiowave receiver 112.

When the collating ECU 113 receives the unlocking signal or the lockingsignal, the collating ECU 113 performs authentication of a transmissionsource (the key unit 12) of the unlocking signal or the locking signalbased on key information included in the unlocking signal or the lockingsignal (hereinafter referred to as “internal key information”).

For example, when the internal key information registered in an internalmemory such as an auxiliary storage device in advance matches theinternal key information included in the unlocking signal or the lockingsignal, the collating ECU 113 determines that the authentication issuccessful, and when the internal key information registered in theinternal memory such as the auxiliary storage device in advance does notmatch the internal key information included in the unlocking signal orthe locking signal, the collating ECU 113 determines that theauthentication fails.

For example, the collating ECU 113 may transmit LF radio waves includinga “challenge” created in a predetermined method using the internal keyinformation of the internal memory from the LF radio wave transmitter111 to the key unit 12 and perform challenge response authenticationbased on a “response” replied from the key unit 12, which is receivedfrom the RF radio wave receiver 112.

When the authentication is successful, the collating ECU 113 transmitsan unlocking command (upon reception of the unlocking signal) or alocking command (upon reception of the locking signal) to the body ECU114 via an in-vehicle network such as a controller area network (CAN).

After the collating ECU 113 transmits the unlocking command or thelocking command to the body ECU 114, the collating ECU 113 transmits anotification indicating that the door is unlocked or locked (anunlocking notification or a locking notification) to the key unit 12 viathe LF radio wave transmitter 111 when a reply that the door is normallyunlocked or locked (an unlocking reply or a locking reply) is receivedfrom the body ECU 114 via the in-vehicle network such as a CAN.

As will be described below, in the unlocking signal, solely some of thedoors of the vehicle 10 may be designated as unlocked targets. In thiscase, the collating ECU 113 designates the door as an unlocked target inthe unlocking command. Accordingly, the body ECU 114 can operate solelythe door lock motor 115 corresponding to some designated doors andunlock solely some doors.

When the above-described activation switch is pressed, the collating ECU113 performs authentication of the key unit 12 by exchanging signalswith the key unit 12 using the LF radio wave transmitter 111 and the RFradio wave receiver 112.

For example, the collating ECU 113 transmits a request signal in an LFband from the LF radio wave transmitter 111 to the key unit 12 torequest reply of the internal key information. When a response signalincluding the internal key information is received from the key unit 12by the RF radio wave receiver 112, the collating ECU 113 determinesauthentication success or authentication failure based on matchingbetween the internal key information registered in the internal memoryin advance and the internal key information included in the responsesignal, as in the case of locking and unlocking the doors.

For example, the collating ECU 113 may perform challenge responseauthentication, as in the case of locking and unlocking of doors.

When the authentication has succeeded, the collating ECU 113 transmits astartup command of the engine 117 to the engine ECU 116 through thein-vehicle network such as the CAN.

The body ECU 114 is an electronic control unit that performs operationcontrol of the door lock motor 115 that is communicably connected via aone-to-one communication line or the like. The body ECU 114 outputs acontrol command to cause the door lock motor 115 to perform an unlockingoperation according to the unlocking command from the collating ECU 113.The body ECU 114 outputs a control command to cause the door lock motor115 to perform a locking operation according to the locking command fromthe collating ECU 113. The body ECU 114 transmits an unlocking reply ora locking reply to the collating ECU 113 via an in-vehicle network suchas a CAN when the door is normally unlocked or locked by outputting thecontrol command to the door lock motor 115.

The door lock motor 115 is a known electric actuator that unlocks andlocks the doors of the vehicle 10 according to the control command fromthe body ECU 114.

The engine ECU 116 is an electronic control unit that drives andcontrols the engine 117. Specifically, the engine ECU 116 drives andcontrols various actuators such as a starter or an injector, which aremounted on the engine 117. When the startup command is input from thecollating ECU 113, the engine ECU 116 outputs a control command tovarious actuators such as a starter or an injector of the engine 117 tostart up the engine 117.

The key unit 12 is disposed in the vehicle cabin of the vehicle 10 andtransmits the unlocking signal and the locking signal as RF radio wavesto the locking, unlocking and activation device 11 according to of theunlocking request and the locking request transmitted from the mobileterminal 20. The key unit 12 performs exchange of signals with thelocking, unlocking and activation device 11 according to the signal inthe LF band transmitted from the locking, unlocking and activationdevice 11 when the activation switch provided in the vehicle cabin ofthe vehicle 10 is pressed. The key unit 12 includes an LF radio wavereceiver 121, an RF radio wave transmitter 122, a communication device123, and a key ECU 124.

The key unit 12 may be disposed at a position (for example, a glove box,or the inside of a center console box) at which it is difficult forusers seated on respective seats of the vehicle 10 to visually recognizethe key unit 12. The key unit 12 may be fixed or may not be fixed to thevehicle 10. The key unit 12 may be operated by a built-in button batteryor the like or may be operated by power supplied from an auxiliarybattery mounted on the vehicle 10.

The LF radio wave receiver 121 receives the LF radio waves under thecontrol of the key ECU 124.

The RF radio wave transmitter 122 transmits RF radio waves under thecontrol of the key ECU 124.

The communication device 123 is any device that performs near fieldcommunication with the mobile terminal 20 under the control of the keyECU 124. The communication device 123 may be, for example, a BLEcommunication module that performs communication with the mobileterminal 20 in compliance with a Bluetooth (registered trademark) lowenergy (BLE) communication standard. Hereinafter, description will begiven on the premise that a communication standard adopted in thecommunication device 123 conforms to BLE communication.

The communication device 123 may be a communication device conforming toa short-range communication standard having a very short communicabledistance, such as a near field communication (NFC) standard. In thiscase, the communication device 123 may be built, for example, at aposition (for example, the inside of the door handle) close to a bodysurface of the vehicle 10 outside the vehicle cabin. Accordingly, thekey unit 12 (the key ECU 124) can communicate with the mobile terminal20 outside the vehicle cabin even when the communicable distance of thecommunication device 123 is very short.

The key ECU 124 is an electronic control unit that performs a controlprocess of transmitting a locking signal and an unlocking signal to thelocking, unlocking and activation device 11 according to the unlockingrequest and the locking request received from the mobile terminal 20.

The key ECU 124 controls the communication device 123 so that a state inwhich communication according to a predetermined communication standardsuch as a BLE communication standard can be performed with the mobileterminal 20 is established.

Specifically, the key ECU 124 regularly (for example, every severalseconds) transmits an advertising packet including advertisementinformation reachable within a predetermined communication range (forexample, several meters to tens of meters) from the communication device123. The advertisement information includes a universally uniqueidentifier (UUID), a device identifier (ID), or the like correspondingto the key unit 12. Accordingly, the mobile terminal 20 can identify thekey unit 12 mounted in the vehicle 10 that is a target by receiving theadvertising packet and confirming the advertisement information.

When a connection request for requesting a connection according to theBLE communication is received from the mobile terminal 20 present in thecommunication range of the vehicle 10 (the key unit 12) that hasreceived the advertising packet, the key ECU 124 establishes a state inwhich the BLE communication can be performed between the mobile terminal20 and the vehicle 10 (the key unit 12). In this case, the key ECU 124transmits a connection response indicating that the state in which theBLE communication can be performed has been established to the mobileterminal 20 via the communication device 123.

The key ECU 124 receives an authentication request including anauthentication key associated with the key unit 12 from the mobileterminal 20 via the communication device 123 in a state in which theabove-described BLE communication has been established.

When the authentication request including the authentication keyassociated with the key unit 12 is received from the mobile terminal 20,the key ECU 124 performs authentication of the mobile terminal 20 basedon the authentication key. When the authentication has been successful,the key ECU 124 restores the internal key information stored in aninternal memory such as an auxiliary storage device to a usable state.The internal key information is stored in a state that the internal keyinformation cannot be used for authentication in the locking, unlockingand activation device 11, for example, due to a state in which theinternal key information is not accessible or a state in which theinternal key information has been encrypted. Therefore, when theauthentication of the mobile terminal 20 has been successful, the keyECU 124, for example, performs changing of an authority to access theinternal memory for changing the key information to an accessible state,or decodes an encrypted internal key information based on theauthentication key. Accordingly, the key ECU 124 can access the internalkey information which is not normally accessible to transmit anunlocking signal or a locking signal including the internal keyinformation to the locking, unlocking and activation device 11 ortransmit an unlocking signal or a locking signal including decodedinternal key information to the locking, unlocking and activation device11. Therefore, the locking, unlocking and activation device 11 canperform appropriate authentication based on the internal key informationincluded in the unlocking signal and the locking signal. Even when asituation in which a malicious third party illegally obtains the keyunit 12 occurs, the internal key information in the key unit 12, forexample, is not accessible or is encrypted, occurrence of theft of thevehicle 10 can be suppressed.

The key ECU 124 receives the unlocking request and the locking requestfrom the mobile terminal 20 via the communication device 123 in a statein which the above-described BLE communication has been established.When the authentication of the mobile terminal 20 is successful(specifically, a state in which the BLE communication has beenestablished is kept after the authentication of the mobile terminal 20has been successful) and the key ECU 124 has received the unlockingrequest or the locking request from the mobile terminal 20, the key ECU124 transmits the unlocking signal or the locking signal includinglocking and unlocking key information to the locking, unlocking andactivation device 11 via the RF radio wave transmitter 122.

Accordingly, unlocking or locking of the doors of the vehicle 10 isrealized after an authentication process in the locking, unlocking andactivation device 11.

When the key ECU 124 receives an unlocking notification from thelocking, unlocking and activation device 11 via the LF radio wavereceiver 121 after the key ECU 124 has transmitted the unlocking signalto the locking, unlocking and activation device 11, the key ECU 124transmits an unlocking completion notification to the mobile terminal 20for which the BLE communication has been established, that is, themobile terminal 20 that is an unlocking request transmission source viathe communication device 123. Similarly, when the key ECU 124 receives alocking notification from the locking, unlocking and activation device11 via the LF radio wave receiver 121 after the key ECU 124 hastransmitted the locking signal to the locking, unlocking and activationdevice 11, the key ECU 124 transmits a locking completion notificationto the mobile terminal 20 for which the BLE communication has beenestablished via the communication device 123. Accordingly, the mobileterminal 20 that is a transmission source of the locking request or theunlocking request based on a predetermined manipulation of the user canascertain that the locking or unlocking of the vehicle 10A has beencompleted normally.

As described above, the key ECU 124 performs exchange of signals withthe locking, unlocking and activation device 11 according to a signal inthe LF band transmitted from the locking, unlocking and activationdevice 11 when the activation switch provided in the vehicle cabin ofthe vehicle 10 is pressed.

For example, when the request signal is received from the locking,unlocking and activation device 11 by the LF radio wave receiver 121,the key ECU 124 transmits a response signal including the internal keyinformation stored in the internal memory or the like to the locking,unlocking and activation device 11 via the RF radio wave transmitter122.

For example, when the LF radio waves including the “challenge” arereceived from the locking, unlocking and activation device 11 by the LFradio wave receiver 121, the key ECU 124 generates a “response” based onthe internal key information and transmits the response to the locking,unlocking and activation device 11 via the RF radio wave transmitter122.

Accordingly, after the authentication process in the locking, unlockingand activation device 11, the startup of the engine 117 is realized.

An authority regarding a function of locking, unlocking, or activatingthe vehicle 10 imparted by the center server 30 may be defined in theauthentication key.

For example, when the authentication key has solely the authority tounlock some of the doors of the vehicle 10, the key ECU 124 transmits anunlocking signal including information for designating the door to beunlocked to the key unit 12 via the RF radio wave transmitter 122.Accordingly, solely some of the doors of the vehicle 10 can be unlockedas described above.

For example, when the authentication key does not have the authority toactivate the engine 117, the key ECU 124 may not perform exchange withthe locking, unlocking and activation device 11 even when the signal inthe LF band from the locking, unlocking and activation device 11 basedon a pressing manipulation of the activation switch is received by theLF radio wave receiver 121. Accordingly, it is possible to prohibit theactivation of the engine 117 according to the authority of theauthentication key.

The GPS module 13 receives GPS signals transmitted from three or moresatellites and, desirably, four or more satellites over the vehicle 10,and measures a position of the vehicle 10. The GPS module 13 iscommunicably connected to the DCM 14 or the like via a one-to-onecommunication line or an in-vehicle network such as a CAN, and themeasured position information of the vehicle 10 is input to the DCM 14or the like.

The DCM 14 is a communication device that bidirectionally communicateswith the center server 30 over a predetermined communication network.The DCM 14 transmits current position information of the vehicle 10input from the GPS module 13 to the center server 30 at a predefinedtiming or according to a request from the center server 30, or the like.The DCM 14 transmits, to the center server 30, various types of vehicleinformation (for example, information indicating that unlocking of thedoor of the vehicle 10 or activation of the vehicle 10 is performedbased on the authentication key, which is acquired from the key unit 12)that can be acquired over an in-vehicle network such as a CAN at apredefined timing or according to a request from the center server 30 orthe like.

The mobile terminal 20 includes a communication device 21, acommunication device 22, a processing device 23, and a touch paneldisplay (hereinafter simply referred to as a “display”) 24.

The communication device 21 is any device that performs near fieldcommunication with the vehicle 10 according to the same communicationstandard as that of the communication device 123. As described above, inthe case of the embodiment, the communication device 21 is, for example,a BLE communication module.

The communication device 22 is any device that communicates with thecenter server 30, the service management server 40, or the like over apredetermined communication network. The communication device 22 is amobile communication module corresponding to a communication standardsuch as Long Term Evolution (LTE), 4th Generation (4G), or 5thGeneration (5G).

The processing device 23 performs various control processes in themobile terminal 20. The functions of the processing device 23 may berealized by any hardware, any software, or a combination of any hardwareand any software, and includes for example, a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, anauxiliary storage device, an RTC, and various interfaces forcommunication. The processing device 23 includes, for example, acommunication processing unit 2301, a communication processing unit2302, an authentication key acquisition unit 2303, an authenticationrequest unit 2304, and a locking and unlocking request unit 2305 asfunctional units that are realized by executing one or more programsstored in the ROM or the auxiliary storage device on the CPU. Theprocessing device 23 includes, for example, a storage unit 2300 that isrealized as a storage area in the auxiliary storage device, and aprocess of storing various pieces of data in the storage unit 2300 isrealized by a predetermined program stored in the ROM or the auxiliarystorage device.

The communication processing unit 2301 performs bidirectional near fieldcommunication with the key unit 12 using the communication device 21 andperforms transmission and reception of various signals.

The communication processing unit 2302 connects to the predeterminedcommunication network using the communication device 22 and transmitsand receives various signals such as a data signal or a control signalto and from the center server 30, the service management server 40, andthe like.

The authentication key acquisition unit 2303 acquires the authenticationkey from the center server 30, for example, according to a predeterminedmanipulation of the user with respect to a predetermined graphical userinterface (GUI) displayed on the display 24, and stores the acquiredauthentication key in the storage unit 2300. Hereinafter, thedescription will be given on the premise that various manipulations withrespect to the mobile terminal 20 are performed by a manipulation withrespect to the GUI displayed on the display 24 in conjunction with theoperation of the key application.

For example, the authentication key acquisition unit 2303 of the mobileterminal 20Aa transmits an authentication key acquisition request to thecenter server 30 via the communication processing unit 2302.Accordingly, the center server 30 receives the authentication keyacquisition request, and issues the authentication key when the centerserver 30 determines that the authentication key acquisition request isa regular authentication key acquisition request. The authentication keyacquisition unit 2303 acquires the authentication key distributed fromthe center server 30 via the communication processing unit 2302.

For example, the authentication key acquisition unit 2303 of the mobileterminal 20Ab acquires the authentication key distributed from thecenter server 30 to the mobile terminal 20Ab via the communicationprocessing unit 2302 according to a key sharing request (to be describedbelow) transmitted from the mobile terminal 20Aa to the center server30.

The authentication key acquisition unit 2303 of the mobile terminal 20Abmay transmit the authentication key acquisition request by itself to thecenter server 30 via the communication processing unit 2302. In thiscase, when the center server 30 receives the authentication keyacquisition request from the mobile terminal 20Ab, the center server 30may perform an inquiry about whether or not to permit distribution ofthe authentication key to the mobile terminal 20Aa of the owner user.

For example, the authentication key acquisition unit 2303 of each of themobile terminals 20Ac, 20Ad, and 20B transmits an authentication keyacquisition request to the delivery management server 50, the C2C carsharing management server 70, and the B2C car sharing management server80 to request acquisition of the authentication key. Accordingly, thedelivery management server 50, the C2C car sharing management server 70,and the B2C car sharing management server 80 transmit an authenticationkey arrangement request to the center server 30 according to receptionof the authentication key acquisition request, and the center server 30issues the authentication key according to reception of theauthentication key arrangement request. The authentication keyacquisition unit 2303 acquires an authentication key that is distributedfrom the center server 30 via the communication processing unit 2302.

The authentication key acquisition unit 2303 of the mobile terminals20Ac, 20Ad, and 20B may transmit the authentication key acquisitionrequest to the center server 30 via the communication processing unit2302. In this case, the center server 30 may perform an inquiry of thedelivery management server 50, the C2C car sharing management server 70,and the B2C car sharing management server 80 to determine whether or notthe authentication key acquisition request is a regular authenticationkey acquisition request.

The authentication request unit 2304 transmits an authentication requestto the key unit 12 of the vehicle 10 via the communication processingunit 2301 to request authentication of the mobile terminal 20 serving asa remote manipulation unit for locking and unlocking the doors of thevehicle 10. For example, when the authentication request unit 2304 findsa key unit corresponding to the authentication key, and specifically,when an advertising packet corresponding to the key unit 12 is receivedby the communication processing unit 2301, the authentication requestunit 2304 may transmit the authentication request to the key unit 12.For example, the authentication request unit 2304 may transmit theauthentication request to the key unit 12 according to a predeterminedmanipulation by the user.

The locking and unlocking request unit 2305 transmits an unlockingrequest including an authentication key or a locking request includingthe authentication key to the key unit 12 via the communicationprocessing unit 2301 according to the predetermined manipulation by theuser. Accordingly, even when the unlocking request or the lockingrequest has been transmitted to the key unit 12 before theauthentication request is transmitted by the authentication request unit2304, locking and unlocking of the door of the vehicle 10 based on theauthentication process in the key unit 12 can be realized. For example,an unlocking button for requesting unlocking of the vehicle 10 and alocking button for requesting locking of the vehicle 10 may be drawn ina GUI serving as a manipulation screen of the display 24, a lockingrequest may be transmitted when the locking button is touched, and anunlocking request may be transmitted when the unlocking button istouched. The locking request and the unlocking request may betransmitted by a manipulation with respect to a predeterminedmanipulation unit by hardware provided in the mobile terminal 20.

For example, the functions of the authentication key acquisition unit2303, the authentication request unit 2304, and the locking andunlocking request unit 2305 may be available to the user by apredetermined application program installed in the ROM of the processingdevice 23, the auxiliary storage device, or the like being activated.Hereinafter, the description will be given on the premise that thefunctions of the authentication key acquisition unit 2303, theauthentication request unit 2304, and the locking and unlocking requestunit 2305 of the processing device 23 are available to the user by thekey application already installed in the processing device 23 (theauxiliary storage device or the ROM) being activated.

The display 24 is, for example, a liquid crystal display or an organicelectroluminescence (EL) display. The display 24 is a display devicethat is provided on a front surface of the mobile terminal 20 and alsoserves as a known touch panel type manipulation unit.

The center server 30 includes a communication device 31 and a processingdevice 32.

The functions of the center server 30 may be shared and realized by aplurality of servers. Hereinafter, the same applies to the deliverymanagement server 50, the EC server 60, the C2C car sharing managementserver 70, and the B2C car sharing management server 80.

The communication device 31 is any device that performs bidirectionalcommunication with each of the vehicle 10, the mobile terminal 20, andthe service management server 40 over a predetermined communicationnetwork.

The processing device 32 performs various control processes in thecenter server 30. The functions of the processing device 32 may berealized by any hardware, any software, or a combination of any hardwareand any software, and the processing device 32 is mainly configured ofone or a plurality of server computers including, for example, a CPU, aRAM, a ROM, an auxiliary storage device, an RTC, and a predeterminedcommunication interface. Hereinafter, the same applies to processingdevices 52, 62, 72, 82 to be described below of the delivery managementserver 50, the EC server 60, the C2C car sharing management server 70,and the B2C car sharing management server 80. The processing device 32includes, for example, a communication processing unit 3201, a conditiondetermination unit 3202, and an authentication key issuance unit 3203 asfunctional units that are realized by executing one or more programsstored in the ROM or the auxiliary storage device on the CPU. Theprocessing device 32 includes, for example, a storage unit 3200 that isrealized as a storage area defined in an auxiliary storage device of aserver computer or an external storage device connected to the servercomputer, and a process in which various pieces of data are stored inthe storage unit 3200 is realized by a program stored in the ROM or theauxiliary storage device. Hereinafter, the same applies to the storageunits 520, 620, 720, and 820 to be described below.

The communication processing unit 3201 controls the communication device31 to perform exchange of various signals such as control signals andinformation signals with the vehicle 10, the mobile terminal 20, and theservice management server 40.

The condition determination unit 3202 determines whether or not theauthentication key acquisition request or the authentication keyarrangement request is a regular authentication key acquisition requestor a regular authentication key arrangement request according toreception of an authentication key acquisition request from the mobileterminal 20 or an authentication key arrangement request from theservice management server 40 received by the communication processingunit 3201.

When the condition determination unit 3202 determines that theauthentication key acquisition request or the authentication keyarrangement request is the regular one, the authentication key issuanceunit 3203 specifies a specification of the authentication key to beissued and issues an authentication key corresponding to the specifiedspecification. For example, the authentication key issuance unit 3203specifies the vehicle 10 that is a target of locking and unlocking usingthe authentication key or the key unit 12 corresponding to the vehicle10. For example, the authentication key issuance unit 3203 specifies theauthority of the authentication key regarding a period of time in whichthe authentication key is valid (available) and the number of times theauthentication key is available. For example, the authentication keyissuance unit 3203 specifies the authority of the authentication keyregarding the unlocking or activation of the vehicle 10, such aslockable and unlockable doors and whether or not the vehicle 10 can beactivated. For example, the authentication key issuance unit 3203specifies the authority of the authentication key regarding thetemporary key sharing, such as whether or not the authentication key canbe shared with another mobile terminal 20 through a temporary keysharing to be described below, a period of time in which theauthentication key can be shared with the other mobile terminal 20, andthe number of times the authentication key can be shared with the othermobile terminal 20. Hereinafter, the authority of the authentication keyregarding the period of time in which the authentication key isavailable, the number of times the authentication key is available, andthe like, the authority of the authentication key regarding theunlocking or activation of the vehicle 10, and the authority of theauthentication key regarding the temporary key sharing are collectivelysimply referred to as “various authorities of the authentication key”.The authentication key issuance unit 3203 distributes the authenticationkey issued to the mobile terminal 20 that is a target via thecommunication processing unit 3201.

Details of Configuration Regarding Key Sharing Service

A configuration regarding the key sharing service in the authenticationkey management system 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a diagram mainly illustrating an example of a configurationregarding the key sharing service in the authentication key managementsystem 1. Hereinafter, a configuration regarding the key sharing servicein the authentication key management system 1 will be mainly describedwith reference to FIG. 3, and duplicate description on the configurationoverlapping the configuration regarding locking, unlocking, andactivation of the vehicle 10 described above will be omitted as much aspossible. Hereinafter, the same applies to description of FIGS. 4 to 6.

The processing device 23 of the mobile terminal 20Aa carried by theowner user of the vehicle 10A includes the communication processing unit2301, the communication processing unit 2302, the authentication keyacquisition unit 2303, the authentication request unit 2304, and thelocking and unlocking request unit 2305, as described above. Theprocessing device 23 of the mobile terminal 20Aa further includes a userregistration request unit 2306, a service use registration request unit2307, a service use situation request unit 2308, and a key sharingrequest unit 2309 as functional units that are realized by executing oneor more programs stored in the ROM or the auxiliary storage device onthe CPU.

In the embodiment, the description will be given on the premise that thefunctions of the user registration request unit 2306, the service useregistration request unit 2307, the service use situation request unit2308, and the key sharing request unit 2309 of the mobile terminal 20Aaare available to the owner user by the key application being activatedand the user authentication based on bidirectional communication withthe center server 30 being successful. The description will be given onthe premise that the user authentication is performed by the centerserver 30 based on an ID defined for the owner user (hereinafterreferred to as “owner user ID”) in advance and a password correspondingto the owner user ID.

The user registration request unit 2306 requests the center server 30 toregister the regular user of the vehicle 10A that uses various services(the key sharing service, the trunk delivery service, the C2C carsharing service, and the like) for using the vehicle 10A, according to apredetermined manipulation by the owner user. For example, the userregistration request unit 2306 transmits a user registration requestincluding an owner user ID and a password and attribute information (forexample, a name, age, and relationship with the owner user) forspecifying a sub-user who is a registration target to the center server30 via the communication processing unit 2302.

When a notification indicating that registration of the sub-user hasbeen completed (user registration completion notification) is receivedfrom the center server 30 by the communication processing unit 2302, theuser registration request unit 2306 stores an ID (hereinafter referredto as a “sub-user ID”) and a password of the sub-user included in theuser registration completion notification in the storage unit 2300. Inthis case, the user registration request unit 2306 may transmit thesub-user ID and the password to the mobile terminal 20Ab carried by theregistered sub-user via the communication processing unit 2301 accordingto a predetermined manipulation by the owner user.

The service use registration request unit 2307 requests the centerserver 30 to perform registration of use of various services for usingthe vehicle 10A by the regular user of the vehicle 10A according to apredetermined manipulation by the owner user. That is, the service useregistration request unit 2307 requests registration of theauthentication key arrangement authority of the key sharing managementunit 3207 or the service management server 40 corresponding to variousservices for allowing regular users of the vehicle 10A to use variousservices, as described above. For example, the service use registrationrequest unit 2307 transmits a service use registration request includingthe owner user ID and the password, the information for specifying thevehicle 10A to be used for various services, the information forspecifying the service that is a target, and the ID of the regular userwho uses the target service (the owner user ID or the sub-user ID) tothe center server 30 via the communication processing unit 2302.Hereinafter, the owner user ID and the sub-user ID may be collectivelyreferred to as a “regular user ID”. Accordingly, the service useregistration request unit 2307 can register a sub-user who uses the keysharing service in the center server 30.

The service use registration request unit 2307 receives a notificationthat the use registration of the service based on the service useregistration request has been completed from at least one of the centerserver 30 and the service management server 40 via the communicationprocessing unit 2302. The service use registration request unit 2307causes the display 24 to display an indication that the use registrationof the specific service by the regular user of the vehicle 10A based onthe predetermined manipulation by the owner user has been completed.Accordingly, the owner user can recognize that the use registration ofthe specific service by the regular user has been completed.

The service use situation request unit 2308 requests the center server30 to provide information on the use situation of various services(service use situation information) including the key sharing service bythe regular user of the vehicle 10A for which the use registration hasbeen completed in a form corresponding to the owner user ID according toa predetermined manipulation by the owner user. For example, the serviceuse situation request unit 2308 transmits a service use situationrequest including the owner user ID and the password to the centerserver 30 via the communication processing unit 2302. When the serviceuse situation information received from the center server 30 by thecommunication processing unit 2302 is received, the service usesituation request unit 2308 displays the service use situationinformation on the display 24. Accordingly, the owner user can centrallyrecognize the information on the use situation of each service by eachof the regular users registered for use in the center server 30 in anaspect in which the information is linked to the owner user ID.

The key sharing request unit 2309 requests the center server 30 todistribute the authentication key for performing locking, unlocking oractivating of the vehicle 10A to the sub-user registered for use in thekey sharing service according to a predetermined manipulation by theowner user. For example, the key sharing request unit 2309 transmits akey sharing request including an owner user ID and a password,information for specifying the vehicle 10A that is a locking andunlocking target by the authentication key, and information (forexample, a sub-user ID) for specifying the sub-user that is adistribution (share) target of the authentication key to the centerserver 30 via the communication processing unit 2302. In this case, useperiod information (for example, a date and time of use start and a dateand time of use end) for specifying a period of time in which theauthentication key set and distributed by a predetermined manipulationby the owner user is available may be included in the key sharingrequest. The key sharing request may include authority information onvarious authorities of the authentication key, such as an authority ofthe authentication key regarding a period of time in which theauthentication key is available or the number of times theauthentication key is available, an authority of the authentication keyregarding the unlocking or activation of the vehicle, and an authorityof the authentication key regarding temporary key sharing to bedescribed below, which can be designated according to the predeterminedmanipulation by the owner user. Accordingly, as described above, whenthe authentication key available at the same time is shared among themobile terminals 20, the owner user can appropriately set authorityinformation such that use of the vehicle 10A by a user other than theowner user can be limited. Therefore, security of the vehicle 10A can beimproved.

The key sharing request unit 2309 may set the mobile terminals 20 (thatis, at least one of the mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab) of a plurality ofregular users of the vehicle 10A as distribution targets and request thecenter server 30 to distribute the authentication key of which theperiods of time in which the authentication key is available overlapaccording to the predetermined manipulation by the owner user. That is,in the key sharing request, the regular users that are authenticationkey distribution targets may be designated, or the owner users may beincluded in the regular users. In the key sharing request, the period oftime in which the authentication key is available for each of thedesignated regular users may overlap. Accordingly, the authenticationkey of the vehicle 10A available at the same time can be shared by theregular users. Therefore, for example, when a plurality of persons getson the vehicle 10A together and go out for travel, camp, or the like,each of passengers can lock and unlock the vehicle 10A without lendingand borrowing the mobile terminal 20 in which the authentication key hasbeen stored, and therefore, convenience for users can be improved.

Even when the key sharing request unit 2309 may share the distributedauthentication key with another mobile terminal 20 (that is, the mobileterminal 20 in which the key application is installed) according to apredetermined manipulation by the owner user (hereinafter, a sharingaspect of the authentication key will be referred to as “temporary keysharing”). In this case, the other mobile terminal 20 may be the mobileterminal 20Ab of the sub-user or may be the mobile terminal 20 of a userother than the sub-user, that is, a user temporarily using the vehicle10A.

For example, the key sharing request unit 2309 transmits theauthentication key (more specifically, a copy of the authentication key)to another mobile terminal 20 via the communication processing unit2301. Accordingly, the owner user of the vehicle 10A can share theauthentication key with the other user even when a plurality of personssuddenly gets on the vehicle 10A together and goes out for traveling orthe like. It is possible to share the authentication key available atthe same time with the other mobile terminal 20 directly from the mobileterminal 20Aa. Accordingly, for example, even when the mobile terminal20Aa is at a place at which a communication situation in a wirelessmobile communication network is poor or out of a communication range,the owner user of the vehicle 10A can share the authentication key withthe other user.

In this case, the key sharing request unit 2309 may transmit theauthentication key of which the authority regarding the period of timein which the authentication key is available or the number of times theauthentication key is available or the authority regarding the unlockingor activation of the vehicle 10A, which is set based on thepredetermined manipulation by the owner user or which is defined inadvance, has been restricted, to the other mobile terminal 20 via thecommunication processing unit 2301. Specifically, for example, anauthentication key with an authority to limit the period of time inwhich the authentication key is available or the number of times theauthentication key is available to, for example, 30 minutes or once, oran authentication key with an authority, for example, solely to lock andunlock doors for getting on and off the vehicle 10A or prohibitactivation of the vehicle 10A may be transmitted to another mobileterminal 20. Hereinafter, the same applies to the case of temporary keysharing that is performed via the center server 30. Accordingly,security of the vehicle 10A due to the temporary key sharing can beimproved.

When the temporary key sharing is performed, the key sharing requestunit 2309 may cause the authentication key to be distributed from thecenter server 30 to the other mobile terminal 20, as in the case of anormal key sharing. In this case, the key sharing request unit 2309 maytransmit a temporary key sharing request including information (forexample, an issued ID embedded in the authentication key) for specifyingthe distributed authentication key and information for designating theother mobile terminal 20 that is a distribution target to the centerserver 30 via the communication processing unit 2302, to cause theauthentication key of the vehicle 10A to be distributed from the centerserver 30 to the other mobile terminal 20.

For example, when the other mobile terminal 20 is the mobile terminal20Ab of the sub-user, the key sharing request unit 2309 may transmit atemporary key sharing request including the sub-user ID to the centerserver 30 via the communication processing unit 2302.

For example, the key sharing request unit 2309 acquires predeterminedidentification information (for example, a quick response (QR) code(registered trademark) corresponding to the user of another mobileterminal 20 registered as a user installing the key application in thecenter server 30) from the other mobile terminal 20 via thecommunication processing unit 2301. The key sharing request unit 2309may transmit a temporary key sharing request for designating anothermobile terminal 20 specified based on the identification information asa distribution target, to the center server 30.

The mobile terminal 20Aa may acquire the identification informationusing another method. For example, the mobile terminal 20Aa may acquireidentification information corresponding to the user of the other mobileterminal 20 in an aspect in which the identification informationdisplayed on the display 24 of the other mobile terminal 20 isrecognized using a mounted camera function. For example, the mobileterminal 20Aa may acquire the identification information transmittedfrom the user of the other mobile terminal 20 to a mail address or anaccount of an SNS of the owner user.

For example, according to a predetermined manipulation by the owneruser, the key sharing request unit 2309 transmits a candidate terminalinformation request for requesting a candidate terminal information on acandidate terminal that is a candidate for the other mobile terminal 20present around a current position of the mobile terminal 20Aa to thecenter server 30 via the communication processing unit 2302. When thecandidate terminal information is received from the center server 30 bythe communication processing unit 2302, the key sharing request unit2309 causes the display 24 to display the candidate terminalinformation. In this case, information for specifying a candidateterminal in which a specific manipulation or operation is performedamong candidate terminals may be included in the candidate terminalinformation replied from the center server 30. Accordingly, the owneruser of the vehicle 10A can specify another mobile terminal 20 fromamong the candidate terminals displayed on the display 24 of the mobileterminal 20Aa by the user of the other mobile terminal 20 as a keysharing target performing a specific manipulation or operation withrespect to the mobile terminal 20. The key sharing request unit 2309 maytransmit a temporary key sharing request for designating the othermobile terminal 20 specified from among the candidate terminals as adistribution target to the center server 30, according to apredetermined manipulation by the owner user.

The key sharing request unit 2309 may activate the key applicationaccording to a predetermined manipulation by the owner user to transmitlink information according to a uniform resource locator (URL) schemefor allowing the other mobile terminal 20 to acquire the authenticationkey from the center server 30 (hereinafter, simply referred to as “linkinformation”) to a mail address or an account of an SNS of the user ofthe other mobile terminal 20 via the communication processing unit 2302.In this case, the key sharing request unit 2309 transmits a temporarykey sharing request for designating the acquired authentication key tothe center server 30 via the communication processing unit 2302according to a predetermined manipulation by the owner user, andacquires the link information replied from the center server 30according to the temporary key sharing request. Accordingly, the keysharing request unit 2309 can cause the authentication key to bedistributed from the center server 30 to the other mobile terminal 20.

The temporary key sharing may be executed from the mobile terminal 20Abof the sub-user to which the authentication key has already beendistributed. That is, a function regarding the temporary key sharing inthe key sharing request unit 2309 may be included in a function of thekey application that is installed in the processing device 23 of themobile terminal 20Ab of the sub-user. Accordingly, it is not needed tolend and borrow the mobile terminal 20Ab of the sub-user who hasacquired the authentication key even when a plurality of personsincluding no owner user gets on the vehicle 10A together, andconvenience for the sub-user of the vehicle 10A can be further improved.Hereinafter, description will be given on the premise that the temporarykey sharing can be performed from the mobile terminal 20Ab of thesub-user.

The processing device 32 of the center server 30 includes thecommunication processing unit 3201, the condition determination unit3202, the authentication key issuance unit 3203, and the storage unit3200, as described above. The processing device 32 of the center server30 includes, for example, a position information management unit 3204, aschedule management unit 3205, a registration management unit 3206, anda key sharing management unit 3207 as functional units that are realizedby executing one or more programs stored in an auxiliary storage deviceor the like of a server computer on a CPU.

When the authentication key acquisition request has been received fromthe mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab by the communication processing unit3201, the condition determination unit 3202 performs authenticationbased on the regular user ID and the password included in theauthentication key acquisition request. For example, the conditiondetermination unit 3202 collates the regular user ID and passwordregistered in the storage unit 3200 with the regular user ID andpassword included in the authentication key acquisition request, anddetermines that the authentication is successful, that is, theauthentication key acquisition request is a regular authentication keyacquisition request when both match.

The condition determination unit 3202 determines whether or not theauthentication key arrangement request sent from the key sharingmanagement unit 3207 to be described below is a regular authenticationkey arrangement request. For example, when the authentication issuccessful based on authentication information (for example, the ID andthe password) included in the authentication key arrangement requestfrom the key sharing management unit 3207, the condition determinationunit 3202 may determine that the authentication key arrangement requestis a regular authentication key arrangement request.

When the condition determination unit 3202 determines that theauthentication key acquisition request or the authentication keyarrangement request is a regular authentication key acquisition requestor a regular authentication key arrangement request, the authenticationkey issuance unit 3203 issues the authentication key and distributes theauthentication key to the mobile terminal 20 via the communicationprocessing unit 3201.

The position information management unit 3204 manages the positioninformation of the vehicles 10 (10A, 10B). Specifically, the positioninformation management unit 3204 transmits a position informationrequest to the vehicle 10 via the communication processing unit 3201. Inresponse to the position information request, the DCM 14 of the vehicle10 replies the center server 30 with the position information of thevehicle 10 input from the GPS module 13, and the position informationmanagement unit 3204 can acquire the position information of the vehicle10.

For example, the position information management unit 3204 acquires theposition information from the vehicle 10A via the communicationprocessing unit 3201 and monitors the position information of thevehicle 10A in real time to recognize a movement situation of thevehicle 10A. Accordingly, for example, the position informationmanagement unit 3204 can notify the owner user of the positioninformation of the vehicle 10A lent to the sub-user via thecommunication processing unit 3201. For example, the positioninformation management unit 3204 can notify the mobile terminal 20Ab ofthe sub-user of information such as whether or not the vehicle 10Ascheduled to be lent to the sub-user is directed to a designatedposition (for example, home) or a reference for returning, via thecommunication processing unit 3201.

The schedule management unit 3205 manages the use situation of thevehicle 10A regarding various services. For example, the schedulemanagement unit 3205 periodically acquires a use schedule of the vehicle10 by the key sharing service and, specifically, information on a dateand time on which the authentication key distributed by the key sharingservice is available, from the key sharing management unit 3207. Theschedule management unit 3205 acquires the use schedule of the vehicle10A by each of the trunk delivery service and the C2C car sharingservice from the delivery management server 50 and the C2C car sharingmanagement server 70 via the communication processing unit 3201. Theschedule management unit 3205 generates information on the use scheduleof the vehicle 10A (vehicle use schedule information) over a pluralityof services based on the acquired use schedule of the vehicle 10Aregarding the various services, and updates the vehicle use scheduleinformation stored in the storage unit 3200.

The registration management unit 3206 performs registration of theregular user (the sub-user) who uses various services according to theuser registration request received from the mobile terminal 20Aa of theowner user by the communication processing unit 3201. For example, theregistration management unit 3206 collates the owner user ID andpassword included in the user registration request from the mobileterminal 20Aa with the owner user ID and password stored in the storageunit 3200, and determines that the user registration request is aregular user registration request when both match. That is, theregistration management unit 3206 determines that the authentication issuccessful. The registration management unit 3206 registers the sub-userID included in the regular user registration request in a user serviceregistration information database (DB) in the storage unit 3200 as theregular user who can use various services.

The registration management unit 3206 performs registration of use ofvarious services by the regular user of the vehicle 10A according to theservice use registration request received from the mobile terminal 20Aaof the owner user by the communication processing unit 3201. That is,according to the service use registration request, the registrationmanagement unit 3206 performs registration of an authentication keyarrangement authority of the key sharing management unit 3207 or theservice management server 40 corresponding to various services to allowthe user of the vehicle 10A to use various services. For example, theregistration management unit 3206 performs the same authenticationprocess as described above based on the owner user ID and the passwordincluded in the service use registration request from the mobileterminal 20Aa to determine whether the service use registration requestis a regular service use registration request. When the service useregistration request is a regular service use registration request, theregistration management unit 3206 determines whether or not the regularuser ID included in the service use registration request has alreadybeen registered in the user service registration information DB. Whenthe regular user ID included in the service use registration request hasalready been registered in the user service registration information DB,the registration management unit 3206 registers the service of a targetspecified by the service use registration request in the user serviceregistration information database (DB) in the storage unit 3200 as aservice available to the regular user corresponding to the regular userID.

Specifically, the registration management unit 3206 constructs a userservice registration information DB in an aspect in whichservice-specific information for specifying a target service,vehicle-specific information for specifying the vehicle 10A, a regularuser ID for specifying a regular user who uses the service, and servicelink information in which the vehicle-specific information correspondingto the vehicle 10A and the regular user ID are associated with thetarget service is linked to the owner user ID.

The service-specific information is, for example, a service ID that isdefined for each service. Specifically, for example, when there is aplurality of companies providing the C2C car sharing service, a uniqueservice ID is defined for each of the companies. For example, when thesame company provides a plurality of C2C car sharing services, a uniqueID is defined for each of the services provided by the same company.When a trunk delivery service is provided by a combination of aplurality of delivery companies and a plurality of EC companies, aunique service ID may be defined for each combination of the deliverycompany and the EC company, and the target service may be specified by acombination of the unique service ID defined for each of the deliverycompanies and a unique service ID defined for each of the EC companies.

The vehicle-specific information may be any information as long as theinformation is able to specify the vehicle 10A that is a target oflocking, unlocking, or activation using the authentication key. Forexample, the vehicle-specific information may be identificationinformation such as a vehicle ID or a vehicle identification number(VIN), which is defined for each vehicle 10A. For example, thevehicle-specific information may be identification information such as akey unit ID, which is defined for each in-vehicle device related tolocking, unlocking, or activation of the doors based on theauthentication key mounted on the vehicle 10A such as the key unit 12.Hereinafter, description will be given on the premise that thevehicle-specific information is the key unit ID.

The service link information is information needed for the key sharingmanagement unit 3207, the delivery management server 50, the EC server60, and the C2C car sharing management server 70 managing variousservices to transmit the authentication key arrangement request tothereby cause the authentication key issuance unit 3203 to issue theauthentication key of the vehicle 10A that is a target and distributethe authentication key to the mobile terminal 20 that is a target. Thatis, the authentication key issuance unit 3203 can specify the vehicle10A that is a target of locking, unlocking, or activation using theauthentication key and issue an appropriate authentication key byreceiving the authentication key arrangement request including theservice link information from the key sharing management unit 3207, thedelivery management server 50, the EC server 60, and the C2C car sharingmanagement server 70.

The service link information may be any information as long as thetarget service is associated with the vehicle 10A and the user who usesthe service in the center server 30. For example, the service linkinformation may be a login ID of the regular user at a website for usersof various services corresponding to the key sharing management unit3207, the delivery management server 50, the EC server 60, and the C2Ccar sharing management server 70 (hereinafter referred to as “servicelogin ID” for convenience). In this case, the service use registrationrequest unit 2307 of the mobile terminal 20Aa transmits the service useregistration request including the service login ID of the regular userthat is a registration target corresponding to the various services tothe center server 30 via the communication processing unit 2302. Whenthe regular user that is a registration target corresponding to variousservices does not acquire the service login ID, the processing device 23of the mobile terminal 20Aa may activate a predetermined browser andacquire the service login ID of a website of various services.Accordingly, when the user (the regular user of the vehicle 10A) logs into the website at the time of requesting a service that is a target, thedelivery management server 50 or the C2C car sharing management server70 can recognize the service login ID corresponding to the service linkinformation and easily arrange the authentication key regarding theservice provision. Hereinafter, description will be given on the premisethat the service link information on the trunk delivery service and theC2C car sharing service is the service login ID.

In the case of regular users who regularly use a plurality of vehicles10A, the center server 30 can specify the regular user solely by usingthe service login ID, but cannot specify the vehicle 10A. Therefore,information for indirectly specifying the vehicle 10A (for example,information obtained by encrypting the vehicle-specific informationusing a predetermined scheme) in addition to the service login ID may beincluded in the service link information.

When the registration of use of various services has been completed,registration management unit 3206 notifies the mobile terminals 20Aa,20Ab corresponding to the regular users that are registration targetsthat the registration of use of various services has been completed, viacommunication processing unit 3201. When the registration of use ofvarious services has been completed, the registration management unit3206 transmits a service use registration completion notificationincluding the service link information to the key sharing managementunit 3207 or the service management server 40 that performs an operationand management of a service that is a registration target viacommunication processing unit 3201.

A notification that the registration of use of various services for themobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab has been completed may be transmitted fromthe service management server 40 that has received the service useregistration completion notification.

When the service use situation request has been received from the mobileterminal 20Aa by the communication processing unit 3201, theregistration management unit 3206 generates the service use situationinformation based on, for example, the vehicle use schedule informationmanaged by the user service registration information DB of the storageunit 3200 or the schedule management unit 3205, and distributes theservice use situation information to the mobile terminal 20Aa via thecommunication processing unit 3201.

The key sharing management unit 3207 performs an operation andmanagement of the key sharing service.

For example, according to the key sharing request received from themobile terminal 20Aa of the owner user by the communication processingunit 3201, the key sharing management unit 3207 performs the arrangementof the authentication key to the mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Abcorresponding to the regular user ID designated by the key sharingrequest. Specifically, the key sharing management unit 3207 collates theowner user ID and the password included in the key sharing request withthe owner user ID and the password stored in the storage unit 3200, anddetermines that the key sharing request is a regular key sharing requestwhen both match. The key sharing management unit 3207 inquires of theschedule management unit 3205 and determines whether or not there ismismatch, that is, overlapping of the use date and time regarding theuse of the services and the vehicle 10A of the regular users between theuse period information included in the key sharing request and thelatest vehicle use schedule information. When there is no overlapping ofthe use time, the key sharing management unit 3207 sends, to theauthentication key issuance unit 3203, the authentication keyarrangement request including information on the regular userscorresponding to the mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab that are distributiontargets of the authentication key specified by the information includedin the key sharing request, and the vehicle 10A that is a target oflocking, unlocking, or activation using the authentication key, andauthority information such as a period of time in which theauthentication key is available to the respective mobile terminals 20Aa,20Ab, the number of times the authentication key is available to therespective mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab, unlockable doors, and whether ornot the vehicle can be activated. Accordingly, the authentication keyissuance unit 3203 can specify the regular user IDs corresponding to themobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab that are distribution targets of theauthentication key, and the vehicle 10A that is a target of locking,unlocking, or activation using the authentication key, and issue anappropriate authentication key.

For example, the key sharing management unit 3207 confirms, for example,attribute information (for example, an age or presence or absence of adriving license) of the users of the mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab thatare distribution targets of the authentication key that is designated bythe key sharing request, which is stored in the storage unit 3200. Whenthe users of the mobile terminal 20Aa, 20Ab (regular users of thevehicle 10A) that are distribution targets of the authentication key areusers determined to be unable to drive the vehicle 10A, the key sharingmanagement unit 3207 allows an authentication key to which an authorityto be unable to activate the vehicle 10A has been imparted to be issuedto the mobile terminal 20 of the user. The user who cannot drive thevehicle 10A is, for example, a user who has not reached an age at whichthe user can acquire a driver's license or a user who does not acquirethe driver's license. Specifically, the key sharing management unit 3207sends an authentication key arrangement request in which an indicationthat the activation of the vehicle 10A is prohibited is included inauthority information corresponding to the mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Abcorresponding to the users determined to be unable to drive the vehicle10A, to the authentication key issuance unit 3203. Accordingly, sincethe authentication key issuance unit 3203 can distribute theauthentication key to which the authority to prohibit the activation ofthe vehicle 10A has been imparted, to the mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab ofthe users who are unable to drive the vehicle 10A, it is possible toimprove safety of the vehicle 10A in the key sharing service.

For example, the key sharing management unit 3207 distributes theauthentication key of the vehicle 10A to the other mobile terminal 20designated by the temporary key sharing request received from the mobileterminal 20Aa of the owner user by the communication processing unit3201 based on the temporary key sharing request. Specifically, the keysharing management unit 3207 specifies the ID of the installing usercorresponding to the other mobile terminal 20 that is a distributiontarget (hereinafter referred to as “installing user ID”) based on theinstalling user information DB of the key application stored in thestorage unit 3200. The key sharing management unit 3207 sends anauthentication key arrangement request including the specifiedinstalling user ID and information (for example, an issued ID of theauthentication key included in the temporary key sharing request)corresponding to the authentication key designated by the temporary keysharing request to the authentication key issuance unit 3203.Accordingly, the authentication key issuance unit 3203 can specifyanother mobile terminal 20 that is a distribution target based on theinstalling user ID, the issued ID of the authentication key, and thelike, and distribute the authentication key to the other mobile terminal20 via the communication processing unit 3201.

A function of the key sharing management unit 3207 may be transferred toa server (a key sharing management server) outside the center server 30,which may be included in the service management server 40, similar toother services for using the vehicle 10A.

The mobile terminal 20Ab carried by the sub-user includes thecommunication processing unit 2301, the communication processing unit2302, the authentication key acquisition unit 2303, the authenticationrequest unit 2304, the locking and unlocking request unit 2305, and thestorage unit 2300, as described above.

In the embodiment, description will be given on the premise that thefunction of the authentication key acquisition unit 2303 of the mobileterminal 20Ab is available to the sub-user by the key application beingactivated and the user authentication based on bidirectionalcommunication with the center server 30 being successful. Descriptionwill be given on the premise that the user authentication is performedby the center server 30 based on the sub-user ID and the password.Description will be given on the premise that functions of theauthentication request unit 2304 and the locking and unlocking requestunit 2305 of the mobile terminal 20Ab are available to the sub-user bythe key application being activated.

The authentication key acquisition unit 2303 acquires the authenticationkey distributed from the center server 30 according to the key sharingrequest transmitted from the mobile terminal 20Aa to the center server30 via the communication processing unit 2302, as described above.Accordingly, the mobile terminal 20Ab can lock and unlock the doors ofthe vehicle 10A or activate the vehicle 10A based on the functions ofthe communication processing unit 2301, the authentication request unit2304, and the locking and unlocking request unit 2305. That is, thesub-user carrying the mobile terminal 20Ab can directly use the vehicle10A through the key sharing service. For example, the sub-user can lockand unlock the vehicle 10A using the mobile terminal 20Ab withoutperforming key exchange with the owner user and drive the vehicle 10A.Similarly, the owner user can lend the vehicle 10A to the sub-userwithout exchanging the key with the sub-user. Accordingly, it ispossible to improve convenience in lending and borrowing of the vehicle10A between the owner user of the vehicle 10A and the sub-user throughthe key sharing service in the authentication key management system 1.

The authentication key acquisition unit 2303 acquires the authenticationkey that is distributed from the center server 30 according to thetemporary key sharing request transmitted from the mobile terminal 20Aato the center server 30 via the communication processing unit 2302, asdescribed above. The same applies to a case where the authentication keyis distributed to another mobile terminal 20 other than the mobileterminal 20Ab of the sub-user according to the temporary key sharingrequest. Accordingly, the other mobile terminal 20 including the mobileterminal 20Ab can lock and unlock the doors of the vehicle 10A oractivate the vehicle 10A based on the functions of the communicationprocessing unit 2301, the authentication request unit 2304, and thelocking and unlocking request unit 2305. That is, for example, when aplurality of persons including other regular users gets on the vehicle10A together and goes out and even when the sub-user carrying the mobileterminal 20Ab does not acquire the authentication key in advance, thesub-user does not have to borrow the mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab towhich the authentication key has already been distributed, and candirectly use the vehicle 10A using the mobile terminal 20Ab, such aslocking and unlocking the vehicle 10A or driving the vehicle 10A.Similarly, even when the owner user has not caused the mobile terminal20Ab of the sub-user to acquire the authentication key, it is not neededfor the owner user to lend the mobile terminal 20Aa of the owner user tothe sub-user. Accordingly, it is possible to improve convenience of theuser in a case where a plurality of persons including the regular userof the vehicle 10A gets on the vehicle 10A together and uses the vehicle10A through the temporary key sharing in the authentication keymanagement system 1.

Details of Configuration Regarding Trunk Delivery Service

A configuration regarding the trunk delivery service in theauthentication key management system 1 will be described with referenceto FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 is a diagram mainly illustrating an example of a configurationregarding a trunk delivery service in the authentication key managementsystem 1. Hereinafter, the configuration regarding the trunk deliveryservice in the authentication key management system 1 will be mainlydescribed with reference to FIG. 4, and duplicate description on theconfiguration overlapping the above-described configuration regardingthe key sharing service will be omitted as much as possible.

The processing device 23 of the mobile terminal 20Aa carried by theowner user of the vehicle 10A includes the communication processing unit2302, the user registration request unit 2306, the service useregistration request unit 2307, and the service use situation requestunit 2308, as described above.

The user registration request unit 2306 requests the center server 30 toregister the regular user (a sub-user) of the vehicle 10A who usesvarious services including the trunk delivery service according to apredetermined manipulation by the owner user, as described above.

The service use registration request unit 2307 requests the centerserver 30 to perform the registration of use of various servicesincluding the trunk delivery service for each registered regular user(the owner user or the sub-user) according to a predeterminedmanipulation by the owner user, as described above.

For example, the service use registration request unit 2307 transmits,as the service link information, a service use registration request forusing the trunk delivery service including a service login ID of awebsite for a user who uses the service of the delivery managementserver 50 (hereinafter referred to as a “delivery site”) and a servicelogin ID of the EC site, which corresponds to the regular user of thevehicle 10A that is a registration target, to the center server 30.

The service use situation request unit 2308 requests the center server30 to provide information on a use situation of various services(service use situation information) including the trunk delivery serviceof the regular user of the vehicle 10A for which the use registrationhas been performed, in a form corresponding to the owner user IDaccording to a predetermined manipulation by the owner user, asdescribed above.

The delivery management server 50 that performs an operation of thetrunk delivery service (the vehicle cabin delivery service) includes acommunication device 51 and a processing device 52.

The communication device 51 is any device that performs bidirectionalcommunication with each of the mobile terminal 20, the center server 30,and the EC server 60 over a predetermined communication network.

The processing device 52 includes, for example, a communicationprocessing unit 521, a service cooperation registration unit 522, adelivery reception unit 523, and a delivery management unit 524 asfunctional units that are realized by executing one or more programsstored in the ROM or the auxiliary storage device on the CPU. Theprocessing device 52 includes a storage unit 520 that is realized as astorage area of an auxiliary storage device or the like of the servercomputer.

The communication processing unit 521 controls the communication device51 to perform transmission and reception of various signals such ascontrol signals or information signals to and from each of the mobileterminal 20, the center server 30, and the EC server 60.

The service cooperation registration unit 522 performs informationregistration for cooperation between the center server 30 regarding theuse of the trunk delivery service of the regular user of the vehicle 10Aand the delivery management server 50 according to the service useregistration completion notification received from the center server 30by the communication processing unit 521.

For example, the service cooperation registration unit 522 adds a flagindicating a use target of the trunk delivery service to the servicelogin ID (part of service link information) included in the service useregistration completion notification in the user management DB thatmanages the user of the delivery site constructed in the storage unit520. In addition, the service cooperation registration unit 522registers information for specifying the vehicle 10A included in theservice link information and the service login ID of the website (thatis, the EC site) corresponding to the EC server 60 included in theservice use registration completion notification in an aspect in whichthe information and the service login ID are associated with the servicelogin ID included in the service use registration completionnotification in the user management DB of the storage unit 520.Accordingly, when a user corresponding to the service login ID regularlyuses the vehicles 10A, the delivery management server 50 can transmit anauthentication key arrangement request to the center server 30 withrespect to the vehicle 10A designated by the user. When an orderreception including a service login ID is received from the EC server 60by the communication processing unit 521, the delivery management server50 can specify the corresponding service login ID of the delivery site.The delivery management server 50 transmits service link informationsuch as the authentication key arrangement request including thespecified service login ID or information specifying the vehicle 10Acorresponding to the vehicle 10A designated by the user to the centerserver 30 such that it is possible to cause the authentication key to bedistributed from the center server 30 to the mobile terminal 20Ac of thedeliverer, as described below.

The delivery reception unit 523 receives information (delivery requestinformation) on the luggage delivery request including the service loginID of the EC site corresponding to an orderer of the product at the ECsite from the EC server 60 via the communication processing unit 521.The delivery request information received from the

EC server 60 includes information on a designated delivery destination(delivery destination information), information on a designated deliverydate and time (delivery date and time information), and the like inaddition to basic information such as a name, an address, and atelephone number of the orderer that is a delivery destination.

The delivery management unit 524 performs an operation and management ofall the processes from the request to the delivery regarding thedelivery request receive d by the delivery reception unit 523.

For example, when the delivery management unit 524 receives anotification that luggage has reached a business office that hasjurisdiction over a parking position of the vehicle 10A designated bythe delivery destination information of the delivery request from thebusiness office via the communication processing unit 521, the deliverymanagement unit 524 determines a date and time of departure for deliveryof the luggage, a deliverer in charge, and the like according to adesignated delivery date and time (a delivery date and a delivery timeperiod).

The delivery management unit 524 inquires the center server 30 about theposition information of the vehicle 10A via the communication processingunit 521 before departure for delivery of the luggage that is a target(for example, 10 minutes before the departure). The delivery managementunit 524 acquires current position information of the vehicle 10A fromthe center server 30 via the communication processing unit 521 anddetermines whether or not the delivery can be performed from matchingwith the parking position of the designated vehicle 10A and arelationship with a jurisdiction area.

The determination as to whether or not the delivery is available may bemade by the center server 30.

When the delivery management unit 524 determines that the delivery isavailable for the luggage that is a target, the delivery management unit524 transmits a notification that the luggage can be delivered to thetrunk of the vehicle 10A (delivery available notification) to the mobileterminal 20Ac of the deliverer via the communication processing unit521.

When an authentication key acquisition request is received from themobile terminal 20Ac that has received the delivery availablenotification by the communication processing unit 521, the deliverymanagement unit 524 determines whether or not the authentication keyacquisition request is a regular authentication key acquisition request.Specifically, the delivery management unit 524 may perform thedetermination by collating information on luggage that is a deliverytarget (hereinafter referred to as “delivery luggage information” forconvenience) such as a deliverer, a destination (for example, a name ofa recipient or a corporate name), a type of luggage, a delivery timeperiod, and a delivery destination that can be included in theauthentication key acquisition request, with various types ofinformation on the luggage registered in the storage unit 520. When thedelivery management unit 524 determines that the authentication keyacquisition request is a regular authentication key acquisition request,the delivery management unit 524 transmits an authentication keyarrangement request to the center server 30 via the communicationprocessing unit 521. In this case, information for specifying the mobileterminal 20Ac of the deliverer may be included in the authentication keyarrangement request. The information for specifying the deliverer maybe, for example, an authentication ID for obtaining user authenticationat the center server 30 in order for the deliverer to use the functionof the key application corresponding to the authentication keyacquisition unit 2303 of the mobile terminal 20Ac or the like(hereinafter referred to as a “deliverer ID” for convenience).Accordingly, the mobile terminal 20Ac of the deliverer can acquire theauthentication key from the center server 30. The authentication keyarrangement request includes information for specifying the luggage thatis a target.

When the delivery management unit 524 receives an inquiry about thecurrent position of the vehicle 10A from the mobile terminal 20Ac of thedeliverer who has left for the delivery from the business office via thecommunication processing unit 521, the delivery management unit 524inquires of the center server 30 about the current position informationof the vehicle 10A. The delivery management unit 524 acquires thecurrent position information of the vehicle 10A from the center server30 via the communication processing unit 521 and transmits (transfers)the current position information of the vehicle 10A to the mobileterminal 20Ac of the deliverer. Accordingly, the deliverer who has goneout can compare the current position information of the vehicle 10A withthe information on the parking position of the vehicle 10A designated bythe delivery destination information and determine whether to deliverthe luggage or return to the business office.

When the delivery management unit 524 receives the delivery completionnotification received from the mobile terminal 20Ac of the deliverer whohas completed the delivery of the luggage via the communicationprocessing unit 521, the delivery management unit 524 transmits thedelivery completion notification to the center server 30 via thecommunication processing unit 521, and the operation and managementregarding the trunk delivery service regarding the luggage basicallyends. In this case, the delivery management unit 524 may notifycompletion of the delivery to the regular user of the vehicle 10A thatis a requester (a purchaser of a product at the EC site) through anelectronic mail, a predetermined SNS, a predetermined applicationprogram cooperating with the delivery site installed in the mobileterminals 20Aa, 20Ab, or the like.

The DCM 14 of the vehicle 10A may determine that the delivery by thedeliverer has been completed when the door (the trunk lid or the like)for access to the trunk of the vehicle 10A is locked after the door isunlocked according to the unlocking request and the locking request fromthe mobile terminal 20Ac of the deliverer, and notify the center server30 that the delivery by the deliverer has been completed, as describedabove. Accordingly, the center server 30 can transmit a deliverycompletion notification to the delivery management server 50 when thenotification is received. That is, the center server 30 may transmit thedelivery completion notification to the delivery management server 50 inresponse to the notification indicating that the delivery of thedeliverer has been completed, which is received from the vehicle 10A.

The EC server 60 includes a communication device 61 and a processingdevice 62.

The communication device 61 is any device that performs bidirectionalcommunication with each of the mobile terminal 20, the center server 30,and the delivery management server 50 over a predetermined communicationnetwork.

The processing device 62 includes, for example, a communicationprocessing unit 621, a web resource transmission unit 622, a servicecooperation registration unit 623, and an order reception processingunit 624 as functional units that are realized by executing one or moreprograms stored in the ROM or the auxiliary storage device on the CPU.The processing device 62 includes a storage unit 620 that is realized asa storage area of an auxiliary storage device or the like of the servercomputer.

The communication processing unit 621 controls the communication device61 to perform transmission and reception of various signals such ascontrol signals or information signals to and from each of the mobileterminal 20, the center server 30, and the delivery management server50.

The web resource transmission unit 622 transmits resources correspondingto the web page to be displayed on a browser of any terminal of the userbrowsing the EC site including the mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab based onvarious types of information as resources of the EC site stored in thestorage unit 620 to the browser of the terminal using a predeterminedscheme. A top page of the EC site, a webpage corresponding to anindividual product handled at the EC site, an order input page for theuser to input various types of information at the time of ordering anindividual product, and the like are included in the web page displayedin the EC site. For example, the web resource transmission unit 622transmits a Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) document corresponding toweb page, and information under the HTML document such as an image and amoving image displayed on web pages in parallel.

The service cooperation registration unit 623 performs informationregistration for cooperation between the center server 30 regarding theuse of the trunk delivery service of the regular user of the vehicle 10Aand the EC server 60 according to the service use registrationcompletion notification received from the center server 30 by thecommunication processing unit 621. For example, the service cooperationregistration unit 623 adds a flag indicating a use target of the trunkdelivery service to the service login ID included in the service useregistration completion notification in the user management DB thatmanages the user of the EC site constructed in the storage unit 620. Inaddition, the service cooperation registration unit 623 performsregistration in an aspect in which a service login ID of a website (thatis, the delivery site) corresponding to the delivery management server50 included in the service use registration completion notification islinked to the service login ID included in the service use registrationcompletion notification in the user management DB. Accordingly, forexample, when an inquiry about an ordered product including the servicelogin ID of the delivery site is received from the delivery managementserver 50 by the communication processing unit 621, the EC server 60 canspecify the service login ID of the corresponding EC site.

The order reception processing unit 624 receives an order of productsfrom the user based on various manipulation inputs corresponding to theorder of the product of the user at the EC site. When the orderreception processing unit 624 receives an order and the trunk of thevehicle 10A is selected as a delivery destination on an order input pageof the EC site, the order reception processing unit 624 inquires thecenter server 30 about the car use schedule information via thecommunication processing unit 621. Accordingly, the order receptionprocessing unit 624 can acquire the latest vehicle use scheduleinformation via the communication processing unit 621. Therefore, forexample, when a designated date and time of delivery has alreadyoverlapped another schedule, the order reception processing unit 624 cantake countermeasures such as requesting to change a delivery date andtime.

As described above, the trunk delivery service in which luggage otherthan an ordered product at the EC site is a target can also be assumed.In this case, the delivery management server 50 may similarly acquirethe latest vehicle use schedule information from the center server 30.Accordingly, the delivery management server 50 can take countermeasuressuch as requesting to change a delivery date and time when a date andtime of delivery of the luggage to the trunk of the vehicle 10Adesignated by the regular user of the vehicle 10A has already overlappedanother schedule.

The processing device 32 of the center server 30 assisting in theoperation of the trunk delivery service (the vehicle cabin deliveryservice) includes the communication processing unit 3201, the conditiondetermination unit 3202, the authentication key issuance unit 3203, theposition information management unit 3204, the schedule management unit3205, the registration management unit 3206, and the storage unit 3200,as described above. The processing device 32 of the center server 30 (anexample of a delivery assistance device) includes, for example, adetermination information acquisition unit 3208, a distributionnecessity determination unit 3209, and an entry authority informationdistribution unit 3210 as functional units realized by executing one ormore programs stored in the auxiliary storage device of the servercomputer or the like on the CPU.

When the condition determination unit 3202 receives the authenticationkey arrangement request from the delivery management server 50 via thecommunication processing unit 3201, the condition determination unit3202 determines whether or not the authentication key arrangementrequest is a regular authentication key arrangement request.

For example, the condition determination unit 3202 determines whether ornot the authentication key arrangement request is the regularauthentication key arrangement request based on service logininformation (for example, the service login ID of the delivery site)included in the authentication key arrangement request or predeterminedauthentication information (for example, the ID and the password)corresponding to the delivery management server 50.

When the condition determination unit 3202 determines whether or not theauthentication key arrangement request is a regular authentication keyarrangement request, the authentication key issuance unit 3203 issues anauthentication key corresponding to the authentication key arrangementrequest and distributes the authentication key to the mobile terminal20Ac of the deliverer.

Specifically, the authentication key issuance unit 3203 specifies thevehicle 10A corresponding to the authentication key arrangement requestbased on the user service registration information DB of the storageunit 3200. The authentication key issuance unit 3203 issues theauthentication key in which a time is limited (for example, the vehicleis available solely in units of several minutes to tens of minutes fromthe distribution), the number of times of use is limited (for example,the number of times of use is solely 1), and an authority is limited sothat solely locking and unlocking of the trunk lid can be allowed.Accordingly, it is possible to suppress unauthorized use of the vehicle10A by the deliverer and to improve security. The authentication keyissuance unit 3203 distributes the authentication key to the mobileterminal 20Ac of the deliverer specified by the authentication keyarrangement request via the communication processing unit 3201.

For example, any method such as a known mathematical method or a methodbased on bidirectional communication between the center server 30 andthe vehicle 10 may be adopted as a method of limiting a period of timein which the authentication key is available or the number of times theauthentication key is used.

The position information management unit 3204, for example, acquires theposition information from the vehicle 10A via the communicationprocessing unit 3201 according to the inquiry about the current positionof the vehicle 10A from the delivery management server 50 received bythe communication processing unit 3201, and provides (transmits) theposition information of the vehicle 10A to the delivery managementserver 50 via the communication processing unit 3201.

In response to the request from the determination informationacquisition unit 3208, for example, the position information managementunit 3204 acquires the position information from the vehicle 10A via thecommunication processing unit 3201 as described above. Specifically, theposition information management unit 3204 acquires time-series data ofthe position information of the vehicle 10A in a latest predeterminedtime from the vehicle 10A via the communication processing unit 3201.

The schedule management unit 3205 replies the EC server 60 with thelatest vehicle use schedule information stored in the storage unit 3200via the communication processing unit 3201 according to the inquiry fromthe EC server 60 received by the communication processing unit 3201.

The registration management unit 3206 performs registration of theregular user (the sub-user) who uses various services including thetrunk delivery service according to the user registration requestreceived from the mobile terminal 20Aa of the owner user by thecommunication processing unit 3201, as described above. The registrationmanagement unit 3206 performs registration of use of the trunk deliveryservice by the regular user of the vehicle 10A according to the serviceuse registration request received from the mobile terminal 20Aa of theowner user by the communication processing unit 3201, as describedabove. When the registration of use of various services including thetrunk delivery service has been completed, the registration managementunit 3206 notifies the mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab corresponding to theregular users that are registration targets that the registration of useof various services including the trunk delivery service has beencompleted via the communication processing unit 3201, as describedabove. When the registration of use of the trunk delivery service hasbeen completed, the registration management unit 3206 transmits aservice use registration completion notification including the servicelink information to the delivery management server 50 and the EC server60 that perform an operation and management of a service that is aregistration target via the communication processing unit 3201.

The determination information acquisition unit 3208 acquires varioustypes of information for determination of the distribution necessitydetermination unit 3209 to be described below.

For example, the determination information acquisition unit 3208acquires attribute information (hereinafter referred to as vehicleattribute information) on the vehicle 10A specified by theauthentication key arrangement request received from the deliverymanagement server 50 by the communication processing unit 3201, which isstored (registered) in the storage unit 3200 in advance.

The vehicle attribute information includes information regarding whetheror not the corresponding vehicle 10A corresponds to a target likely tobe present in an area in which a predetermined authority is needed forentry (hereinafter referred to as “entry restricted area”).Specifically, the vehicle 10A that is a target likely to be presentwithin the entry restricted area is the vehicle 10A present within theentry restricted area at a certain frequency. For example, when theowner user of the vehicle 10A parks the vehicle 10A within a site of acompany corresponding to the entry restricted area during the day duringweekday and performs work or when the vehicle 10A is normally parked ata parking lot within a site of an apartment corresponding to the entryrestricted area, the vehicle 10A corresponds to a target present withinthe entry restricted area. The vehicle attribute information includesinformation on an entry restricted area in which the vehicle 10A islikely to be present (for example, position information such as anaddress, a building corresponding to the entry restricted area, or aname of a facility). For example, the information may be registered inthe storage unit 3200 as part of the vehicle attribute informationthrough a predetermined registration process performed by a user of thevehicle 10A (for example, a registration process through a predeterminedapplication program such as a key application installed in apredetermined website or the mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab interlockedwith the website). For example, the information may be automaticallygenerated based on the time series data of the position information ofthe vehicle 10A, that is, the movement history information that can besequentially acquired by the position information management unit 3204and may be registered as part of the vehicle attribute information inthe storage unit 3200.

For example, the determination information acquisition unit 3208 (anexample of a vehicle position information acquisition unit) acquires theposition information of the vehicle 10A, specifically, the time-seriesdata of the position information of the vehicle 10A via the positioninformation management unit 3204.

For example, the determination information acquisition unit 3208 (anexample of a schedule information acquisition unit) acquires informationon a schedule (hereinafter referred to as “schedule information”) of theregular user of the vehicle 10A including the requester of the luggagespecified by the authentication key arrangement request. In this case,the determination information acquisition unit 3208 may acquire scheduleinformation of some (for example, solely the requester) of the regularusers of the vehicle 10A or may acquire schedule information of all theregular users of the vehicle 10A. Specifically, the determinationinformation acquisition unit 3208 may acquire the schedule informationof the regular user of the vehicle 10A, which is registered by ageneral-purpose schedule application installed in a terminal (forexample, the mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab) of the regular user of thevehicle 10A, from a predetermined server interlocked with the scheduleapplication via the communication processing unit 3201.

For example, the determination information acquisition unit 3208 (anexample of an action pattern information acquisition unit) acquiresinformation on the action pattern (hereinafter referred to as “actionpattern information”) of the regular user of the vehicle 10A includingthe requester of the luggage that is a target, which is stored(registered) in the storage unit 3200 in advance.

The action pattern information may include, for example, informationindicating that the user is in a company that is a place of work withinthe entry restricted area in a specific time period of a weekday and theuser is directed to a specific place corresponding to the entryrestricted area in a specific time period of a specific day of the week.Specifically, the action pattern information may be generated based on ahistory (a getting-on pattern) of the regular user of the vehicle 10Agetting on and using the vehicle 10A. In this case, the history of theuser getting on and using the vehicle 10A may be acquired, for example,by a notification including the position information being sent from thevehicle 10A to the center server 30 each time locking or unlocking ofthe vehicle 10A is performed. The action pattern information can beacquired by a movement history of the user based on the time series dataof the position information of the mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab of theregular user of the vehicle 10A acquired under the approval of the userbeing analyzed.

When an authentication key arrangement request is received from thedelivery management server 50 by the communication processing unit 3201,the distribution necessity determination unit 3209 determines whether ornot distribution of the entry authority information to be describedbelow to the mobile terminal 20Ac of the deliverer is needed at the timeof the delivery of the luggage to the trunk of the vehicle 10A specifiedby the authentication key arrangement request.

For example, based on the vehicle attribute information acquired by thedetermination information acquisition unit 3208, the distributionnecessity determination unit 3209 confirms whether or not the vehicle10A is a target likely to be present within the entry restricted area.When the vehicle 10A is a target likely to be present within the entryrestricted area, the distribution necessity determination unit 3209determines that the distribution of information on an authority to enterthe entry restricted area (entry authority information) to the mobileterminal 20Ac of the deliverer is needed at the time of delivery of theluggage to the trunk of the vehicle 10A.

For example, the distribution necessity determination unit 3209 (anexample of a determination unit) determines (predicts) that the vehicle10A is present in the entry restricted area when the luggage specifiedby the authentication arrangement request is delivered, specifically, ina scheduled delivery time period. The scheduled delivery time periodincludes a designated delivery time period designated by the requesterof the luggage, a delivery standard time period of the luggage that isdefined in consideration of a delivery order, a congestion situation ofa road, or the like by the delivery company (delivery management server50) when a designated delivery time period is not designated. In a casewhere the vehicle 10A is present (predicted to be present) in the entryrestricted area when the luggage that is a target is delivered, thedistribution necessity determination unit 3209 determines thatdistribution of the entry authority information to the mobile terminal20Ac of the deliverer is needed at the time of delivery of the luggageto the trunk of the vehicle 10A.

Specifically, based on the position information of the vehicle 10Aacquired by the determination information acquisition unit 3208, thedistribution necessity determination unit 3209 may determine (predict)that the vehicle 10A is present in the entry restricted area when theluggage that is a target is delivered. More specifically, when thevehicle 10A has already been parked in the entry restricted area fromthe latest position information of the vehicle 10A, the distributionnecessity determination unit 3209 may predict that the vehicle 10A ispresent in the entry restricted area when the luggage that is a targetis delivered. When the vehicle 10A is moving toward the entry restrictedarea within a predetermined range relatively close to the entryrestricted area from the time series data of the latest positioninformation of the vehicle 10A, the distribution necessity determinationunit 3209 may predict that the vehicle 10A is present in the entryrestricted area when the luggage that is a target is delivered.

Based on the schedule information of the regular user of the vehicle 10Aincluding the requester of the luggage that is a target acquired by thedetermination information acquisition unit 3208, the distributionnecessity determination unit 3209 may predict whether or not the vehicle10A is present within the entry restricted area when the luggage that isa target is delivered. More specifically, when a schedule indicatingthat the regular user of the vehicle 10A is staying in the entryrestricted area is included in the schedule information of the regularuser of the vehicle 10A corresponding to the scheduled delivery timeperiod of the luggage, the distribution necessity determination unit3209 may predict whether or not the vehicle 10A is present within theentry restricted area when the luggage that is a target is delivered.

Based on the action pattern information of the regular user of thevehicle 10A including the requester of the luggage that is a targetacquired by the determination information acquisition unit 3208, thedistribution necessity determination unit 3209 may predict whether ornot that the vehicle 10A is present within the entry restricted areawhen the luggage that is a target is delivered. More specifically, thedistribution necessity determination unit 3209 extracts the actionpattern suitable for a current situation (for example, a date and time,a time period, a day of a week, a current position, or a movingdirection) from among the action patterns of the regular user of thevehicle 10A included in the action pattern information. When a currentstaying place of the regular user of the vehicle 10A corresponding tothe extracted action pattern or a place (a moving destination) to whichthe regular user is currently directed is the entry restricted area, thedistribution necessity determination unit 3209 may predict that thevehicle 10A is present within the entry restricted area when the luggagethat is a target is delivered.

The distribution necessity determination unit 3209 may combine two ormore of the position information of the vehicle 10A, the scheduleinformation of the regular user of the vehicle 10A, and the actionpattern information of the user of the vehicle 10A, and predict whetheror not the vehicle 10A is present in the entry restricted area when theluggage that is a target is delivered.

When the distribution necessity determination unit 3209 determines thatdistribution of the entry authority information to the mobile terminal20Ac of the deliverer is needed at the time of delivery of the luggageto the trunk of the vehicle 10A, the entry authority informationdistribution unit 3210 distributes the entry authority information tothe mobile terminal 20Ac of the deliverer via the communicationprocessing unit 3201.

The entry authority information is used, for example, in an aspect inwhich the entry authority information is included in a signal accordingto a predetermined communication scheme (for example, BLE communicationor NFC communication) transmitted from the mobile terminal 20Ac of thedeliverer to a monitoring device, which is installed at the entrance tothe entry restricted area and determines whether or not there is anauthority to enter the entry restricted area. The entry authorityinformation is used, for example, in an aspect in which the entryauthority information is displayed on the display 24 of the mobileterminal 20Ac of the deliverer and then image-recognized by themonitoring device by being held over the monitoring device. Accordingly,the monitoring device determines that the deliverer has an authority toenter the entry restricted area by confirming the entry authorityinformation included in the signal or the image-recognized entryauthority information, a gate or the like is opened, and the deliverercan enter the entry restricted area.

For example, the entry authority information distribution unit 3210generates entry authority information of which the number of times ofuse or the use time is restricted based on original data stored(registered) in the storage unit 3200 in advance, a predeterminedproduction rule, or the like, and distributes entry authorityinformation to the mobile terminal 20Ac of the deliverer via thecommunication processing unit 3201. In this case, information such asthe original data or the predetermined rule is provided from the user ofthe vehicle 10A, the management company that manages a person enteringand exiting the entry restricted area, or the like and is registered inthe storage unit 3200 in advance.

For example, when the monitoring device described above does notcorrespond to variable type entry authority information, the entryauthority information distribution unit 3210 distributes fixed typeentry authority information imparted from the user of the vehicle 10A, acompany that manages a building, a facility, or the like correspondingto the entry restricted area, or the like and stored (registered) in thestorage unit 3200 in advance to the mobile terminal 20Ac of thedeliverer via the communication processing unit 3201.

For example, when the authentication key arrangement request is receivedfrom the delivery management server 50 by the communication processingunit 3201, the entry authority information distribution unit 3210transmits a request for arrangement of the entry authority informationto an external device corresponding to the management company describedabove (for example, a server operated by the management company or acloud server used by the management company) via the communicationprocessing unit 3201. In this case, the request for arrangement includesauthentication information or the like for receiving distribution ofentry authority information from an external device. The authenticationinformation or the like is provided from the user of the vehicle 10A orthe management company and stored (registered) in the storage unit 3200in advance. The entry authority information distribution unit 3210distributes the entry authority information received from the externaldevice by the communication processing unit 3201 to the mobile terminal20Ac of the deliverer via the communication processing unit 3201.

As described above, the processing device 23 of the mobile terminal 20Acof the deliverer includes the communication processing unit 2301, thecommunication processing unit 2302, the authentication key acquisitionunit 2303, the authentication request unit 2304, and the locking andunlocking request unit 2305. The processing device 23 of the mobileterminal 20Ac of the deliverer includes an entry request unit 2310 as afunctional unit that is realized by executing one or more programsstored in a ROM or an auxiliary storage device on the CPU.

In the embodiment, description will be given on the premise thatfunctions of the authentication key acquisition unit 2303, theauthentication request unit 2304, the locking and unlocking request unit2305, the entry request unit 2310, and the entry authority informationmanagement unit 2311 of the mobile terminal 20Ac can be used by thedeliverer by the key application being activated.

The entry request unit 2310 performs a process of requesting entry ofthe deliverer to the entry restricted area with respect to theabove-described monitoring device that determines whether or not thereis an authority to enter the entry restricted area according to apredetermined manipulation of the deliverer.

For example, in response to a predetermined manipulation of thedeliverer, the entry request unit 2310 transmits an entry requestincluding the entry authority information to the monitoring devicethrough BLE communication or the like via the communication processingunit 2301. Accordingly, the monitoring device can confirm that thedeliverer has an authority to enter the entry restricted area throughthe authentication process based on the entry authority information, andthe deliverer can enter the entry restricted area.

For example, in response to a predetermined manipulation of thedeliverer, the entry request unit 2310 causes entry authorityinformation composed of an authentication image of a QR (Quick Response)code (registered trademark), a barcode, or the like to be displayed onthe display 24. Accordingly, the deliverer can cause the entry authorityinformation to be recognized by the monitoring device by the display 24of the mobile terminal 20Ac being held over a predetermined position (arecognition unit) of the monitoring device for recognizing the entryauthority information (an authentication image). The monitoring devicecan confirm that the deliverer has an authority to enter the entryrestricted area through the authentication process based on therecognized entry authority information, and the deliverer can enter theentry restricted area.

The entry authority information management unit 2311 manages the entryauthority information that is received from the center server 30 by thecommunication processing unit 2301.

For example, when the entry authority information management unit 2311receives entry authority information corresponding to a predeterminedentry restricted area, the entry authority information management unit2311 stores the entry authority information in the storage unit 2300 inassociation with identification information of the entry restricted area(for example, position information of the entry restricted area or ahash ID uniquely generated from information of a building, a facility,or the like corresponding to the entry restricted area). In this case,the entry authority information management unit 2311 may store the entryauthority information in a storage area that the deliverer cannot accesswith a manipulation other than a manipulation related to the entryrequest unit 2310. The entry authority information management unit 2311may perform predetermined encryption and store resultant entry authorityinformation in the storage unit 2300. Accordingly, even when the mobileterminal 20Ac of the deliverer is lost and fell into hands of amalicious third party, it is possible to suppress the entry authorityinformation from being used by the malicious third party.

For example, the entry authority information management unit 2311 erasesthe entry authority information that is no longer needed from the mobileterminal 20Ac (the processing device 23) according to predeterminedconditions. Specifically, the entry authority information managementunit 2311 may erase the entry authority information according to anerasure command that is transmitted from the center server 30 inresponse to reception of the delivery completion notification from thedelivery management server 50. When the delivery of the luggage that isa target corresponding to the entry authority information has beencompleted, that is, when the authentication key distributed togetherwith the entry authority information has been used and the door foraccess to the trunk of the vehicle 10A has been unlocked and thenlocked, the entry authority information management unit 2311 may erasethe entry authority information. When the door for access to the trunkof the vehicle 10A corresponding to the entry authority information isunlocked, that is, when the authentication key distributed together withthe entry authority information has been used and the door that is atarget has been unlocked, the entry authority information managementunit 2311 may erase the entry authority information. For example, when adetermination is made that the deliverer enters the entry restrictedarea based on the position information of the mobile terminal 20Ac basedon a positioning function (for example, a GPS positioning function or abase station positioning function) of the mobile terminal 20Ac, theentry authority information management unit 2311 may erase the entryauthority information. Accordingly, particularly, in the case of fixedtype entry authority information, the entry authority information can beused many times, and it is possible to suppress a situation in which theentry authority information is needlessly left in the mobile terminal20Ac of the deliverer.

The authentication key acquisition unit 2303 transmits theauthentication key acquisition request to the delivery management server50 via the communication processing unit 2302 according to apredetermined manipulation by a deliverer. In this case, theauthentication key acquisition request includes the above-describeddelivery luggage information stored in the storage unit 2300 in advance.Accordingly, the delivery management server 50 transmits anauthentication key arrangement request to the center server 30 accordingto the authentication key acquisition request, the center server 30distributes the authentication key to the mobile terminal 20Ac accordingto the authentication key arrangement request, and the mobile terminal20Ac can acquire the authentication key. Therefore, the mobile terminal20Ac can lock and unlock the trunk lid of the vehicle 10A based on thefunctions of the communication processing unit 2301, the authenticationrequest unit 2304, and the locking and unlocking request unit 2305, suchthat the deliverer can deliver the requested luggage to the trunk of thevehicle 10A, lock the trunk of the vehicle 10A, and return to home.

Details of Configuration Regarding C2C Car Sharing Service

A configuration regarding a C2C car sharing service in theauthentication key management system 1 will be described with referenceto FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a diagram mainly illustrating an example of the configurationregarding the C2C car sharing service in the authentication keymanagement system 1. Hereinafter, the configuration regarding the C2Ccar sharing service in the authentication key management system 1 willbe mainly described with respect to FIG. 5, and duplicate description onthe configuration overlapping the above-described configurationregarding the key sharing service or the like will be omitted as much aspossible.

The processing device 23 of the mobile terminal 20Aa carried by theowner user of the vehicle 10A includes the communication processing unit2302, the user registration request unit 2306, the service useregistration request unit 2307, and the service use situation requestunit 2308, as described above.

The user registration request unit 2306 requests the center server 30 toregister the regular user (a sub-user) of the vehicle 10A who usesvarious services including the C2C car sharing service according to apredetermined manipulation by the owner user, as described above.

The service use registration request unit 2307 requests the centerserver 30 to perform the registration of use of various servicesincluding the C2C car sharing service for each registered regular user(the owner user or the sub-user) according to a predeterminedmanipulation by the owner user, as described above.

For example, the service use registration request unit 2307 transmits,as the service link information, a service use registration request forusing the C2C car sharing service including a service login ID of awebsite for a user who uses the C2C car sharing service corresponding tothe C2C car sharing management server 70 (hereinafter referred to as a“C2C car sharing site”), which corresponds to the regular user of thevehicle 10A that is a registration target, to the center server 30.

The service use situation request unit 2308 requests the center server30 to provide information on a use situation of various services(service use situation information) including the C2C car sharingservice of the regular user of the vehicle 10A for which the useregistration has been performed, in a form corresponding to the owneruser ID according to a predetermined manipulation by the owner user, asdescribed above.

The C2C car sharing management server 70 includes a communication device71 and a processing device 72.

The communication device 71 is any device that performs bidirectionalcommunication with each of the mobile terminal 20 and the center server30 over a predetermined communication network.

The processing device 72 includes, for example, a communicationprocessing unit 721, a service cooperation registration unit 722, areservation management unit 723, and a vehicle management unit 724 asfunctional units that are realized by executing one or more programsstored in the ROM or the auxiliary storage device on the CPU. Theprocessing device 72 includes a storage unit 720 that is realized as astorage area of an auxiliary storage device or the like of the servercomputer.

Description will be given on the premise that the information forspecifying the vehicle 10A that is a lending target has already beenregistered (stored) in the storage unit 720 in an aspect in which theinformation is linked to the service login ID via the C2C car sharingsite by the regular user (the owner user) of the vehicle 10A.

The communication processing unit 721 controls the communication device71 to perform transmission and reception of various signals such ascontrol signals or information signals to and from each of the mobileterminal 20 and the center server 30.

The service cooperation registration unit 722 performs informationregistration for cooperation between the center server 30 regarding theuse of the C2C car sharing service of the regular user of the vehicle10A and the C2C car sharing management server 70 according to theservice use registration completion notification received from thecenter server 30 by the communication processing unit 721.

For example, the service cooperation registration unit 722 adds a flagindicating a lender of the vehicle 10A the C2C car sharing service tothe service login ID included in the service use registration completionnotification in the user management DB that manages the user of the C2Ccar sharing site constructed in the storage unit 720. The C2C carsharing management server 70 transmits the authentication keyarrangement request including the service login ID corresponding to theregular user of the vehicle 10A, which is the lender, to the centerserver 30 such that it is possible to cause the authentication key to bedistributed from the center server 30 to the mobile terminal 20Ad of theborrower, as described below.

The reservation management unit 723 manages reservation of use of thevehicle 10A that is performed through the C2C car sharing site or thelike.

For example, the reservation management unit 723 receives registrationof a date and time on which the vehicle 10A is rentable from the regularuser of the vehicle 10A through the C2C car sharing site and stores(registers) the received date and time on which the vehicle 10A isrentable in the storage unit 720. In this case, the reservationmanagement unit 723 inquires of the center server 30 about the car useschedule information via the communication processing unit 721.Accordingly, the reservation management unit 723 can acquire the latestvehicle use schedule information via the communication processing unit721. Therefore, the C2C car sharing management server 70, for example,can take countermeasures such as requesting to change the date and timeon which the vehicle 10A is rentable, which is received from the regularuser of the vehicle 10A, or registering a portion excluding anoverlapping portion from the date and time on which the vehicle 10A isrentable as the date and time on which the vehicle 10A is rentable whenthe received date and time on which the vehicle 10A is rentable alreadyoverlaps another schedule or registering.

For example, the reservation management unit 723 receives thereservation of use of the vehicle 10A within a range of the date andtime on which the vehicle 10A is rentable, which is stored in thestorage unit 720. When the reservation management unit 723 receives thereservation of use of the vehicle 10A from a user who is a borrowerthrough the C2C car sharing site, the reservation management unit 723updates information on a lending schedule of the vehicle 10A (lendingschedule information) stored in the storage unit 720.

For example, when the authentication key acquisition request is receivedfrom the mobile terminal 20Ad of the borrower of the vehicle 10A by thecommunication processing unit 721, the reservation management unit 723determines whether or not the authentication key acquisition request isa regular authentication key acquisition request. Specifically, thereservation management unit 723 may perform the determination based onthe service login ID and the password of the C2C car sharing siteincluded in the authentication key acquisition request, or arelationship regarding the date and time of reservation of use (forexample, within a range of the date and time of reservation of use orless than a predetermined time until a date and time of use start). Whenthe authentication key acquisition request is a regular authenticationkey acquisition request, the reservation management unit 723 transmitsan authentication key arrangement request to the center server 30 viathe communication processing unit 721. In this case, information forspecifying the mobile terminal 20Ad of the borrower of the vehicle 10Ais included in the authentication key arrangement request. Theinformation for specifying the borrower of the vehicle 10A may be, forexample, an authentication ID (hereinafter referred to as a “borrowerID” for convenience) for obtaining user authentication in the centerserver 30 in order for the borrower of the vehicle 10A to use a functionof the authentication key acquisition unit 2303 of the mobile terminal20Ad. Accordingly, the mobile terminal 20Ad of the borrower of thevehicle 10A can acquire the authentication key from the center server30.

The vehicle management unit 724 manages the vehicle 10A that is alending target.

For example, the vehicle management unit 724 inquires of the centerserver 30 about a current position information of the vehicle 10A viathe communication processing unit 721 before the date and time ofreservation of use of the vehicle 10A (for example, a period from tensof minutes ago to immediately before). The vehicle management unit 724acquires the current position information of the vehicle 10A repliedfrom center server 30 according to the inquiry via the communicationprocessing unit 721. Accordingly, a determination can be made as towhether or not the vehicle 10A returns to a designated place before ascheduled date and time of lending (a date and time of reservation ofuse) of the vehicle 10A. Accordingly, when the vehicle 10A does notreturn to the designated place, the C2C car sharing management server 70can take countermeasures such as warning the regular user who is alender of the vehicle 10A so that the vehicle 10A returns to thedesignated place through an e-mail or a predetermined applicationcooperating with the C2C car sharing site, which is installed in themobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab.

The processing device 32 of the center server 30 includes thecommunication processing unit 3201, the condition determination unit3202, the authentication key issuance unit 3203, the positioninformation management unit 3204, the schedule management unit 3205, theregistration management unit 3206, and the storage unit 3200, asdescribed above.

When the authentication key arrangement request is received from the C2Ccar sharing management server 70 by the communication processing unit3201, the condition determination unit 3202 determines whether or notthe authentication key arrangement request is a regular authenticationkey arrangement request. For example, the condition determination unit3202 determines whether or not the authentication key arrangementrequest is the regular authentication key arrangement request based onthe service link information included in the authentication keyarrangement request (for example, the service login ID of the C2C carsharing site) or predetermined authentication information (for example,the ID and the password) corresponding to the C2C car sharing managementserver 70.

When the condition determination unit 3202 determines whether or not theauthentication key arrangement request is a regular authentication keyarrangement request, the authentication key issuance unit 3203 specifiesthe vehicle 10A corresponding to the authentication key arrangementrequest based on the user service registration information DB of thestorage unit 3200. The authentication key issuance unit 3203 issues theauthentication key in which a time is limited (for example, the vehicleis available solely at the date and time of reservation of use of thevehicle 10A included in the authentication key arrangement request andin a buffering period before and after the date and time of reservationof use). The authentication key issuance unit 3203 distributes theauthentication key to the mobile terminal 20Ad of the borrower of thevehicle 10A specified by the authentication key arrangement request viathe communication processing unit 3201.

The C2C car sharing service may include, for example, a service(hereinafter referred to as “vehicle trunk lending service” forconvenience) in an aspect in which solely a trunk of the vehicle 10A islent. In the case of a vehicle trunk lending service, the authenticationkey issuance unit 3203 may issue an authentication key with an authoritylimited so that locking and unlocking of the trunk lid are allowed.Accordingly, it is possible to limit a lending target of C2C car sharingto solely the trunk. By limiting the lending target of the C2C carsharing to solely the trunk, for example, a trunk delivery service in anaspect in which the trunk of the vehicle 10A to be lent at a traveldestination is borrowed and a purchased product for use at a traveldestination is delivered to the borrowed trunk can be realized.

The position information management unit 3204 transmits a positioninformation request to the vehicle 10A via the communication processingunit 3201 according to the inquiry about the current position of thevehicle 10A from the C2C car sharing management server 70 received bythe communication processing unit 3201. Accordingly, the positioninformation management unit 3204 can acquire the current positioninformation from the vehicle 10A via the communication processing unit3201. The position information management unit 3204 replies the C2C carsharing management server 70 with the current position informationacquired from the vehicle 10A via the communication processing unit3201.

The schedule management unit 3205 transmits the latest vehicle useschedule information to the vehicle 10A via the communication processingunit 3201 according to the inquiry about the current position of thevehicle 10A from the C2C car sharing management server 70 received bythe communication processing unit 3201.

The registration management unit 3206 performs registration of theregular user (the sub-user) who uses various services including the C2Ccar sharing service according to the user registration request receivedfrom the mobile terminal 20Aa of the owner user by the communicationprocessing unit 3201, as described above. The registration managementunit 3206 performs registration of use of the C2C car sharing service bythe regular user of the vehicle 10A according to the service useregistration request received from the mobile terminal 20Aa of the owneruser by the communication processing unit 3201, as described above. Whenthe registration of use of various services including the C2C carsharing service has been completed, the registration management unit3206 notifies the mobile terminals 20Aa, 20Ab corresponding to theregular users that are registration targets that the registration of usehas been completed via the communication processing unit 3201, asdescribed above. When the registration of use of the C2C car sharingservice has been completed, the registration management unit 3206transmits a service use registration completion notification includingthe service link information to the C2C car sharing management server 70that performs an operation and management of a service that is aregistration target via the communication processing unit 3201.

The processing device 23 of the mobile terminal 20Ad of the borrower ofthe vehicle 10A includes the communication processing unit 2301, thecommunication processing unit 2302, the authentication key acquisitionunit 2303, the authentication request unit 2304, the locking andunlocking request unit 2305, and the storage unit 2300, as describedabove.

The authentication key acquisition unit 2303 transmits an authenticationkey acquisition request to the C2C car sharing management server 70 viathe communication processing unit 2302 according to a predeterminedmanipulation by the borrower of the vehicle 10A. In this case, theservice login ID of the C2C car sharing site corresponding to theborrower of the vehicle 10A is included in the authentication keyacquisition request. Accordingly, the C2C car sharing management server70 can transmit an authentication key arrangement request to the centerserver 30 according to the authentication key acquisition request, thecenter server 30 can distribute the authentication key to the mobileterminal 20Ad according to the authentication key arrangement request,and the mobile terminal 20Ad can acquire the authentication key.Therefore, the mobile terminal 20Ad can lock and unlock the door of thevehicle 10A based on the functions of the communication processing unit2301, the authentication request unit 2304, and the locking andunlocking request unit 2305. That is, the borrower of the vehicle 10Acarrying the mobile terminal 20Ad can directly use the vehicle 10A, suchas locking and unlocking the vehicle 10A and driving the vehicle 10Ausing the mobile terminal 20Ad without performing exchange of a key withthe regular user of the vehicle 10A through the C2C car sharing service.Similarly, the regular user of the vehicle 10A can lend the vehicle 10Ato another person other than the regular user without exchanging thekey. Therefore, it is possible to improve convenience in lending andborrowing of the vehicle 10A between the regular user of the vehicle 10Aand another person other than the regular user through the C2C carsharing service in the authentication key management system 1.

Details of Configuration Regarding B2C Car Sharing Service

A B2C car sharing service in the authentication key management system 1will be described with reference to FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is a diagram mainly illustrating an example of the configurationregarding the B2C car sharing service in the authentication keymanagement system 1. Hereinafter, the configuration regarding the B2Ccar sharing service in the authentication key management system 1 willbe mainly described with respect to FIG. 6, and duplicate description onthe configuration overlapping the above-described configurationregarding the key sharing service or the like will be omitted as much aspossible.

The B2C car sharing management server 80 includes a communication device81 and a processing device 82.

The communication device 81 is any device that performs bidirectionalcommunication with each of the mobile terminal 20B and the center server30 over a predetermined communication network.

The processing device 82 includes, for example, a communicationprocessing unit 821, a reservation management unit 822, and a vehiclemanagement unit 823 as functional units that are realized by executingone or more programs stored in the ROM or the auxiliary storage deviceon the CPU. The processing device 82 includes a storage unit 820 that isrealized as a storage area of an auxiliary storage device or the like ofthe server computer.

The communication processing unit 821 controls the communication device81 to perform transmission and reception of various signals such ascontrol signals or information signals to and from each of the mobileterminal 20B and the center server 30.

The reservation management unit 822 manages the reservation of use ofthe vehicle 10B that is performed through the B2C car sharing site orthe like.

For example, the reservation management unit 822 receives reservation ofuse of the vehicle 10B from a user (hereinafter referred to as “borroweruser”) who wants to borrow the vehicle 10B through a website that isoperated by a company of the B2C car sharing management server 80 or thelike (hereinafter referred to as a “B2C car sharing site” forconvenience). The reservation management unit 822 stores information onthe received reservation of use of the vehicle 10B (use reservationinformation) in the storage unit 820. In this case, for example,information for specifying the vehicle 10A that is a target, informationon a date and time of reservation of use (a start date and time of useand an end date and time of use), and a service login ID of the borroweruser in the B2C car sharing site may be included in the use reservationinformation.

For example, the reservation management unit 822 updates the informationon the use schedule of the vehicle 10B (the vehicle use scheduleinformation) stored in the storage unit 820 each time the reservationmanagement unit 822 receives the reservation of use of the vehicle 10B.Accordingly, the B2C car sharing management server 80 can display theuse schedule of the vehicle 10B on the B2C car sharing site to present adate and time when the reservation of use can be made, to the borroweruser.

For example, when the authentication key request is received from themobile terminal 20B by the communication processing unit 821, thereservation management unit 822 determines whether or not theauthentication key request is a regular authentication key request.Specifically, the reservation management unit 822 may perform thedetermination based on the service login ID and the password of the B2Ccar sharing site corresponding to the borrower user included in theauthentication key request, or a relationship regarding the date andtime of reservation of use (for example, within a range of the date andtime of reservation of use or less than a predetermined time until adate and time of use start). When the authentication key request is aregular authentication key acquisition request, the reservationmanagement unit 822 transmits an authentication key arrangement requestto the center server 30 via the communication processing unit 821. Whenthe authentication key arrangement request is transmitted to the centerserver 30, information for specifying the mobile terminal 20B of theborrower user borrowing the vehicle 10B is included in theauthentication key arrangement request. The information for specifyingthe borrower user borrowing the vehicle 10B may be, for example, anauthentication ID (hereinafter referred to as a “borrower user ID” forconvenience) for obtaining user authentication in the center server 30in order for the borrower user borrowing the vehicle 10B to use afunction of a key application corresponding to the authentication keyacquisition unit 2303 of the mobile terminal 20B or the like.Accordingly, the mobile terminal 20B of the borrower user borrowing thevehicle 10B can acquire the authentication key from the center server30.

The vehicle management unit 823 manages the vehicle 10B that is alending target.

For example, the vehicle management unit 823 inquires of the centerserver 30 about the vehicle 10B parked in the vicinity (for example,within hundreds of meters) of a place designated in the reservation ofuse via the communication processing unit 821 before the date and timeof reservation of use of the vehicle 10B of a borrower user (forexample, before tens of minutes). The vehicle management unit 823acquires the position information of the vehicle 10B parked in thevicinity of the designated place replied from center server 30 accordingto the inquiry via communication processing unit 821. Accordingly, thevehicle management unit 823 can specify one or a plurality of vehicles10B parked around the designated place and determine, for example, thevehicle 10B to be lent before the start date and time of use of thevehicle 10B of the borrower.

For example, the vehicle management unit 823 inquires of the centerserver 30 about the position information of the vehicle 10B in thedesignated area via the communication processing unit 821 according to asearch request of the vehicle 10B in a designated area by the borroweruser at the B2C car sharing site. The vehicle management unit 823acquires the position information of the vehicle 10B in the designatedarea replied from center server 30 according to the inquiry viacommunication processing unit 821. Accordingly, the vehicle managementunit 823, for example, can present the position information of thevehicle 10B that is a target to the borrower user who wants to borrowthe vehicle 10B in the designated area immediately at the B2C carsharing site.

The processing device 32 of the center server 30 includes thecommunication processing unit 3201, the condition determination unit3202, the authentication key issuance unit 3203, and the storage unit3200, as described above.

When the authentication key arrangement request received from the B2Ccar sharing management server 80 is received by the communicationprocessing unit 3201, the condition determination unit 3202 determineswhether or not the authentication key arrangement request is a regularauthentication key arrangement request. For example, the conditiondetermination unit 3202 determines whether or not the authentication keyarrangement request is the regular authentication key arrangementrequest based on whether or not the borrower user ID included in theauthentication key arrangement request is the authentication ID alreadyregistered in the storage unit 3200, or on predetermined authenticationinformation (for example, an ID Password) corresponding to the B2C carsharing management server 80.

When the condition determination unit 3202 determines whether or not theauthentication key arrangement request is the regular authentication keyarrangement request, the authentication key issuance unit 3203 issuesthe authentication key in which a time is limited (for example, thevehicle is available solely at the date and time of reservation of useof the vehicle 10B included in the authentication key arrangementrequest and in a buffering period before and after the date and time ofreservation of use of the vehicle 10B). The authentication key issuanceunit 3203 distributes the authentication key to the mobile terminal 20Bof the borrower user borrowing the vehicle 10B specified by theauthentication key arrangement request via the communication processingunit 3201.

The processing device 23 of the mobile terminal 20B of the borrower userborrowing the vehicle 10B includes the communication processing unit2301, the communication processing unit 2302, the authentication keyacquisition unit 2303, the authentication request unit 2304, the lockingand unlocking request unit 2305, and the storage unit 2300, as describedabove.

The authentication key acquisition unit 2303 transmits an authenticationkey acquisition request to the B2C car sharing management server 80 viathe communication processing unit 2302 according to a predeterminedmanipulation by the borrower user of the vehicle 10B. In this case, theservice login ID of the B2C car sharing site corresponding to theborrower user borrowing the vehicle 10B is included in theauthentication key acquisition request. Accordingly, the B2C car sharingmanagement server 80 can transmit an authentication key arrangementrequest to the center server 30 according to the authentication keyacquisition request, the center server 30 can distribute theauthentication key to the mobile terminal 20B according to theauthentication key arrangement request, and the mobile terminal 20B canacquire the authentication key. Therefore, the mobile terminal 20B canlock and unlock the door of the vehicle 10B based on the functions ofthe communication processing unit 2301, the authentication request unit2304, and the locking and unlocking request unit 2305. That is, theborrower user borrowing the vehicle 10B carrying the mobile terminal 20Bcan directly use the vehicle 10B, such as locking and unlocking thevehicle 10B and driving the vehicle 10B using the mobile terminal 20Bwithout performing exchange of a key with the company of the vehicle 10Bthrough the B2C car sharing service. Therefore, it is possible toimprove convenience for the borrower user borrowing the vehicle 10Bthrough the B2C car sharing service in the authentication key managementsystem 1.

Characteristic Operation of Center Server

A process flow of a characteristic operation of the center server 30,that is, a process of distributing an authentication key to the mobileterminal 20Ac of the deliverer (an authentication key distributionprocess) will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart schematically showing an example of theauthentication key distribution process of the center server 30. Theprocess according to the flowchart of FIG. 7 is repeatedly executed atpredetermined processing intervals. Hereinafter, the same applies to aprocess according to a flowchart of FIG. 8.

In step S102, the authentication key issuance unit 3203 determineswhether or not a regular authentication key arrangement request has beenreceived from the delivery management server 50. Specifically, theauthentication key issuance unit 3203 determines whether or not theauthentication key arrangement request is received from the deliverymanagement server 50 by the communication processing unit 3201 and ithas been determined by the condition determination unit 3202 that theauthentication key arrangement request is a regular authentication keyarrangement request. When the regular authentication key arrangementrequest is received from the delivery management server 50, theauthentication key issuance unit 3203 proceeds to step S104 and,otherwise, ends this process.

In step S104, the determination information acquisition unit 3208acquires the vehicle attribute information corresponding to the vehicle10A specified by the authentication key arrangement request from thestorage unit 3200.

In step S106, the distribution necessity determination unit 3209determines whether or not the vehicle is a target likely to be presentwithin the entry restricted area based on the vehicle attributeinformation. When the vehicle 10A is likely to be present within theentry restricted area, the distribution necessity determination unit3209 proceeds to step S108 and, otherwise, skips step S108 and proceedsto step S110.

In step S108, the entry authority information distribution unit 108distributes the entry authority information corresponding to the entryrestricted area specified based on the vehicle attribute information tothe mobile terminal 20Ac of the deliverer specified by theauthentication key arrangement request via the communication processingunit 3201, and proceeds to step S110.

In step S110, the authentication key issuance unit 3203 issues theauthentication key of the vehicle 10A, distributes the authenticationkey to the mobile terminal 20Ac of the deliverer via the communicationprocessing unit 3201 and ends this process.

When the process is via step S108, the communication processing unit3201 may transmit the entry authority information and the authenticationkey as one piece of information at one time or may transmit the entryauthority information and the authentication key separately at differenttimings.

As described above, in this example, when the authentication key isdistributed to an authentication key delivery company (the mobileterminal 20Ac of the deliverer), the center server 30 distributes theentry authority information to be used for the deliverer to enter theentry restricted area in which the vehicle 10A that is a target islikely to be present, to the delivery company (the mobile terminal20Ac). Accordingly, even when the vehicle 10A is within the entryrestricted area, the deliverer can enter the entry restricted area usingthe entry authority information distributed to the mobile terminal 20Acand deliver the luggage to the trunk of the vehicle.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart schematically showing another example of theauthentication key distribution process of the center server 30.

Since processes of steps S202 to S206 are the same as the processes ofsteps S102 to S106 in FIG. 7, description thereof will be omitted.

In step S206, when the vehicle 10A is likely to be present within theentry restricted area, the distribution necessity determination unit3209 proceeds to step S208.

In step S208, the determination information acquisition unit 3208acquires determination information such as the position information ofthe vehicle 10A, the schedule information of the regular user of thevehicle 10A, and the action pattern information of the regular user ofthe vehicle 10A.

In step S210, the distribution necessity determination unit 3209determines (predicts) whether or not the vehicle 10A is present withinthe entry restricted area in a scheduled delivery time period of theluggage that is a target specified by the authentication key arrangementrequest. When the vehicle 10A is present (predicted to be present) inthe entry restricted area in the scheduled delivery time period of theluggage, the distribution necessity determination unit 3209 proceeds tostep S212 and, otherwise, skips step S212 and proceeds to step S214.

Since processes of steps S212 and S214 are the same as the processes ofsteps S108 and S110 in FIG. 7, description thereof will be omitted.

As described above, in this example, when the luggage that is a targetis delivered by the deliverer (specifically, in the scheduled deliverytime period of the luggage that is a target) in a case where theauthentication key is distributed to the delivery company, the centerserver 30 distributes the entry authority information corresponding tothe entry restricted area to the delivery company when the distributionnecessity determination unit 3209 determines (predicts) that the vehicle10A that is a target is present within the entry restricted area.Accordingly, the center server 30 can suppress the entry authorityinformation from being distributed in a situation in which the vehicle10A is not present within the entry restricted area at the time ofdelivery even when the vehicle 10A is a target likely to be presentwithin the entry restricted area. Therefore, the center server 30 cansuppress unneeded distribution of the entry authority information to thedelivery company, and realize the delivery of the luggage to the trunkof the vehicle 10A in the entry restricted area performed by thedelivery company while maintaining the security of the entry restrictedarea.

Operation

In the embodiment, the center server 30 assists in the operation of atrunk delivery service (a vehicle cabin delivery service) in which thevehicle cabin (trunk) of the vehicle 10A used by the requester can bedesignated as a luggage delivery destination. Specifically, theauthentication key issuance unit 3203 distributes the authentication keythat the deliverer of the delivery company is to use to unlock a doorfor access to the vehicle cabin (trunk) of the vehicle 10A, to thedelivery company (the mobile terminal 20Ac of the deliverer). When theauthentication key is distributed to the delivery company by theauthentication key issuance unit 3203, the entry authority informationdistribution unit 3210 distributes the entry authority informationregarding an authority for the deliverer to enter a predetermined area(the entry restricted area) in which the vehicle 10A is present(specifically, for example, the vehicle 10A is present at a certainfrequency. For example, the vehicle 10A is present in a certain timeperiod of one day) to the delivery company (the mobile terminal 20Ac ofthe deliverer).

Accordingly, the center server 30 can provide (distribute) not only theauthentication key for unlocking the door of the vehicle 10A but alsothe entry authority information on the authority to enter the entryrestricted area in which the vehicle 10A is likely to be present, to thedelivery company. Accordingly, the deliverer of the delivery company canenter the entry restricted area using the entry authority information tobe distributed. Therefore, even when the vehicle 10A is present withinthe entry restricted area in which the authority for entry is needed,the delivery assistance device can construct a mechanism by which thedeliverer can deliver the luggage into the vehicle cabin of the vehicle10A.

In the embodiment, the authentication key and the entry authorityinformation are distributed to the mobile terminal 20Ac of the delivererof the delivery company, but at least one of the authentication key andthe entry authority information may be distributed to, for example, thedelivery management server 50. In this case, the mobile terminal 20Ac ofthe deliverer acquires at least one of the authentication key and theentry authority information from the delivery management server 50.

In the embodiment, the distribution necessity determination unit 3209determines (predicts) whether or not the vehicle 10A is present withinthe entry restricted area when the luggage is delivered to the vehiclecabin (trunk) of the vehicle by the deliverer. In a case where theauthentication key is distributed, the entry authority informationdistribution unit 3210 distributes the entry authority information tothe delivery company when the distribution necessity determination unit3209 has determined that the vehicle 10A is present within the entryrestricted area when the luggage is delivered to the vehicle cabin(trunk) of the vehicle by the deliverer.

Accordingly, the center server 30 can provide (distribute) the entryauthority information to the delivery company solely in a case where thevehicle 10A is present in the predetermined area when the delivererdelivers the luggage into the vehicle cabin of the vehicle 10A.Therefore, the center server 30 can restrict an opportunity for thedelivery company to inappropriately use the entry authority information.Therefore, the center server 30 can provide the entry authorityinformation for entry to the predetermined area to the delivery companywhile maintaining the security regarding the entry restricted area inwhich the authority for entry is needed.

In the embodiment, the determination information acquisition unit 3208acquires the position information of the vehicle 10A. Based on theposition information of the vehicle 10A, the distribution necessitydetermination unit 3209 determines (predicts) whether or not the vehicle10A is present within the entry restricted area when the luggage isdelivered to the vehicle cabin of the vehicle 10A by the deliverer.

Accordingly, based on the position information of the vehicle 10A, thecenter server 30 can ascertain, for example, whether or not the vehicle10A is present within the entry restricted area in which the authorityfor entry is needed or whether or not the vehicle 10A is moving towardthe entry restricted area. Therefore, the center server 30 can determinewhether or not the vehicle 10A is present within the entry restrictedarea, specifically, when the luggage is delivered to the vehicle cabinof the vehicle 10A based on the position information of the vehicle 10A.

In the embodiment, the determination information acquisition unit 3208acquires the schedule information of the user (the regular user) of thevehicle 10A including the requester. Based on the schedule informationof the regular user of the vehicle 10A, the distribution necessitydetermination unit 3209 determines (predicts) whether or not the vehicle10A is present within the entry restricted area when the luggage isdelivered to the vehicle cabin of the vehicle 10A by the deliverer.

Accordingly, the center server 30 can predict, for example, whether theuser of the vehicle 10A is staying in a building, a facility, or thelike corresponding to the entry restricted area in which an authorityfor entry is needed in the scheduled delivery time period of the luggagebased on the schedule information of the regular user of the vehicle10A. Accordingly, based on the schedule information of the regular userof the vehicle 10A, the center server 30 can determine whether thevehicle 10A is present within the entry restricted area, specifically,when the luggage is delivered to the vehicle cabin of the vehicle 10A.

In the embodiment, the determination information acquisition unit 3208acquires the action pattern information of the user (the regular user)of the vehicle 10A including the requester. Based on the action patterninformation of the regular user of the vehicle 10A, the distributionnecessity determination unit 3209 determines whether or not the vehicle10A is present within the entry restricted area when the luggage isdelivered to the vehicle cabin by the deliverer.

Accordingly, the center server 30 for example can ascertain that theregular user of the vehicle 10A parks the vehicle 10A within a site of acompany in which an authority for entry is needed and stays at thecompany during a daytime of a weekday based on the action patterninformation of the regular user of the vehicle 10A. Therefore, based onthe action pattern information of the regular user of the vehicle 10A,the center server 30 can determine whether or not the vehicle 10A ispresent within the entry restricted area, specifically, when the luggageis delivered to the vehicle cabin of the vehicle 10A.

In the embodiment, the entry authority information is used by thedeliverer in an aspect in which the entry authority information isincluded in a predetermined transmission signal to be transmitted from amobile terminal 20Ac possessed by the deliverer to a predetermineddevice (a monitoring device) that determines whether or not there is anauthority to enter the entry restricted area or in an aspect in whichthe entry authority information is displayed on the display device (thedisplay 24) of the mobile terminal 20Ac and recognized by the monitoringdevice.

Accordingly, the center server 30, specifically, can distribute, to thedelivery company, the entry authority information that can be used in anaspect in which the entry authority information is included in apredetermined transmission signal to be transmitted to a monitoringdevice that determines whether or not there is the entry authority,which is installed in an entrance gate of the entry restricted area orthe like. Specifically, the center server 30 can distribute, to thedelivery company, the entry authority information that can be used in anaspect in which the entry authority information is displayed on thedisplay 24 of the mobile terminal 20Ac possessed by the deliverer, orthe like and recognized by a monitoring device that determines whetheror not there is an entry authority by being held over the monitoringdevice.

In the embodiment, the entry authority information distribution unit3210 distributes the entry authority information that can be used for apredetermined period of time or by a predetermined number of timesneeded for delivery of the luggage to the delivery company.

Accordingly, the center server 30 can restrict a period of time of useor the number of times of use of the entry authority information and canrestrict an opportunity for the delivery company to inappropriately usethe entry authority information. Therefore, the center server 30 canprovide entry authority information for entry to the entry restrictedarea to the delivery company while maintaining the security regardingthe entry restricted area in which the authority for entry is needed.

The embodiments for carrying out the present disclosure have beendescribed in detail above, but the present disclosure is not limited tothe specific embodiments as described above, and various modificationsand changes can be performed without departing from the gist of thepresent disclosure described in the claims.

For example, in the embodiment described above, the mobile terminal 20transmits the authentication request including the authentication key tothe key unit 12, and the key unit 12 performs exchange of signals withthe locking, unlocking and activation device 11 according to anauthentication result based on the authentication key. Therefore, thelocking and unlocking of the doors of the vehicle 10A by the locking,unlocking and activation device 11 and the activation of the vehicle 10Aare realized, but the present disclosure is not limited to the aboveaspect.

Specifically, a configuration in which the function of the key unit 12is transferred to the mobile terminal 20, and the mobile terminal 20performs exchange of signals based on the above-described keyinformation (internal key information) with the vehicle 10 (the locking,unlocking and activation device 11) using the LF radio waves and the RFradio waves such that the locking and unlocking of the doors of thevehicle 10A and the activation of the vehicle 10A by the locking,unlocking and activation device 11 are realized may be adopted. In thiscase, the “authentication key” of the embodiment described above may beread as the “key information”. That is, the center server 30 may issuethe key information instead of the authentication key and distribute thekey information to the mobile terminal 20 in the same method as in theauthentication key in the above-described embodiment. Accordingly, thesame operation and effects as those of the above-described embodimentcan be obtained.

The functions of the key unit 12 may be integrated with the locking,unlocking and activation device 11, and a configuration regardingcommunication between the locking, unlocking and activation device 11and the key unit 12 and authentication related to the communication (theLF radio wave transmitter 111, the RF radio wave receiver 112, thecollating ECU 113, the LF radio wave receiver 121, and the RF radio wavetransmitter 122) may be omitted. In this case, when the authenticationof the mobile terminal 20 based on the authentication key has beensuccessful, the key ECU 124 may directly output an unlocking command ora locking command and an activation command to each of the body ECU 114and the engine ECU 116 instead of the collating ECU 113, and performlocking and unlocking the doors of the vehicle 10 and activation of thevehicle 10. Accordingly, the same operation and effects as those of theabove-described embodiment can be obtained.

In the embodiments and the modification examples described above, thedeliverer enters the entry restricted area and delivers the luggage tothe trunk of the vehicle 10A within the entry restricted area. However,when the vehicle 10A that is a target has an autonomous drivingfunction, the vehicle 10A may move out of the entry restricted areausing the autonomous driving function. For example, when the entryrestricted area is within an area related to a parking lot of anapartment, the vehicle 10A is caused to autonomously travel along adetermined route for getting out of the area from the parking lot.Accordingly, the deliverer can deliver the luggage to the trunk of thevehicle 10A without entering the area. Within the entry restricted area,since labor of the deliverer searching for the vehicle 10A that is atarget is saved, it is possible to achieve the efficiency of deliverywork.

Specifically, when the authentication key arrangement request isreceived from the delivery management server 50 and the deliverer hasreached near the entry restricted area in which the vehicle 10A ispresent, the center server 30 first transmits, to the vehicle 10A, acontrol command for instructing the vehicle 10A to autonomously moveusing the autonomous driving function up to a predetermined positionoutside the entry restricted area. Accordingly, the center server 30 cancause the vehicle 10A that is a target to be moved to the outside of theentry restricted area. In this case, the center server 30 can ascertainthat the deliverer has reached near the entry restricted area in whichthe vehicle 10A is present by acquiring a predetermined notificationreceived from the mobile terminal 20Ac of the deliverer or the positioninformation of the mobile terminal 20Ac acquired using a positioningfunction (a GPS positioning function or a base station positioningfunction) of the mobile terminal 20Ac of the deliverer from the mobileterminal 20Ac.

When the luggage that is a target is delivered to the vehicle cabin (thetrunk) of the vehicle 10A, the center server 30 transmits a controlcommand for instructing the vehicle 10 to return to an original parkingposition using the autonomous driving function. Accordingly, the centerserver 30 can cause the vehicle 10A to return to the original parkingposition. In this case, the center server 30 can ascertain that theluggage that is a target has been delivered to the vehicle cabin of thevehicle 10A based on, for example, a delivery completion notificationthat can be received from the mobile terminal 20Ac of the deliverer orthe delivery management server 50 or a notification indicating that thevehicle 10A has been locked using the BLE communication with the mobileterminal 20Ac of the deliverer, which can be received from the vehicle10A.

What is claimed is: 1.-9. (canceled)
 10. A server comprising circuitryconfigured to distribute open authority information and entry authorityinformation to a deliverer in a case where a storage box is presentwithin a predetermined area at a time when the deliverer delivers aluggage to the storage box, the open authority information beinginformation regarding an authority for deliverer to open the storagebox, the entry authority information being information regarding anauthority for the deliverer to enter the predetermined area in which thestorage box is present, and the storage box being designated as aluggage delivery destination.
 11. A portable device comprising circuitryconfigured to receive open authority information and entry authorityinformation in a case where a storage box is present within apredetermined area at a time when a deliverer delivers a luggage to thestorage box, the open authority information being information regardingan authority for the deliverer to open the storage box, the entryauthority information being information regarding an authority for thedeliverer to enter the predetermined area in which the storage box ispresent, and the storage box being designated as a luggage deliverydestination.
 12. A method comprising distributing, by circuitry, openauthority information and entry authority information to a deliverer ina case where a storage box is present within a predetermined area at atime when the deliverer delivers a luggage to the storage box, the openauthority information being information regarding an authority fordeliverer to pen the storage box, the entry authority information beinginformation regarding an authority for the deliverer to enter thepredetermined area in which the storage box is present, and the storagebox being designated as a luggage delivery destination.
 13. The serveraccording to claim 10, wherein the storage box includes at least one ofa vehicle cabin or trunk of a vehicle.
 14. The server according to claim13, the circuitry further configured to acquire position information ofthe vehicle and determining whether or not the vehicle is present withinthe predetermined area based on the position information of the vehiclewhen the luggage is delivered to the vehicle cabin by the deliverer. 15.The server according to claim 13, the circuitry further configured toacquire information on a schedule of a user of the vehicle including therequester and determining whether or not the vehicle is present withinthe predetermined area based on the information on a schedule when theluggage is delivered to the vehicle cabin by the deliverer.
 16. Theserver according to claim 13, the circuitry further configured toacquire information on an action pattern of a user of the vehicleincluding the requester and determining whether or not the vehicle ispresent within the predetermined area based on the information on theaction pattern when the luggage is delivered to the vehicle cabin by thedeliverer.
 17. The server according to claim 10, wherein the entryauthority information is used by the deliverer in an aspect in which theentry authority information is included in a predetermined transmissionsignal to be transmitted from a mobile terminal possessed by thedeliverer to a predetermined device that determines whether or not thereis an authority to enter the predetermined area or in an aspect in whichthe entry authority information is displayed on a display device of themobile terminal and recognized by the predetermined device.
 18. Theserver according to claim 10, wherein the entry authority information isdistributed for a predetermined period of time or a predetermined numberof times needed for delivery of a luggage to the deliverer.
 19. Theportable device according to claim 11, wherein the storage box includesat least one of a vehicle cabin or trunk of a vehicle.
 20. The portabledevice according to claim 19, wherein the circuitry further configuredto acquire position information of the vehicle and determining whetheror not the vehicle is present within the predetermined area based on theposition information of the vehicle when the luggage is delivered to thevehicle cabin by the deliverer.
 21. The portable device according toclaim 19, wherein the circuitry further configured to acquireinformation on a schedule of a user of the vehicle including therequester and determining whether or not the vehicle is present withinthe predetermined area based on the information on a schedule when theluggage is delivered to the vehicle cabin by the deliverer.
 22. Theportable device according to claim 19, wherein the circuitry furtherconfigured to acquire information on an action pattern of a user of thevehicle including the requester and determining whether or not thevehicle is present within the predetermined area based on theinformation on the action pattern when the luggage is delivered to thevehicle cabin by the deliverer.
 23. The portable device according toclaim 11, wherein the entry authority information is used by thedeliverer in an aspect in which the entry authority information isincluded in a predetermined transmission signal to be transmitted from amobile terminal possessed by the deliverer to a predetermined devicethat determines whether or not there is an authority to enter thepredetermined area or in an aspect in which the entry authorityinformation is displayed on a display device of the mobile terminal andrecognized by the predetermined device.
 24. The portable deviceaccording to claim 11, wherein the entry authority information isdistributed for a predetermined period of time or a predetermined numberof times needed for delivery of a luggage to the deliverer.
 25. Themethod according to claim 12, wherein the storage box includes at leastone of a vehicle cabin or trunk of a vehicle.
 26. The method accordingto claim 25, further comprising the steps of acquiring, by thecircuitry, position information of the vehicle and determining whetheror not the vehicle is present within the predetermined area based on theposition information of the vehicle when the luggage is delivered to thevehicle cabin by the deliverer.
 27. The method according to claim 25,further comprising the steps of acquiring, by the circuitry, informationon a schedule of a user of the vehicle including the requester anddetermining whether or not the vehicle is present within thepredetermined area based on the information on a schedule when theluggage is delivered to the vehicle cabin by the deliverer.
 28. Themethod according to claim 25, further comprising the steps of acquiring,by the circuitry, information on an action pattern of a user of thevehicle including the requester and determining whether or not thevehicle is present within the predetermined area based on theinformation on the action pattern when the luggage is delivered to thevehicle cabin by the deliverer.
 29. The method according to claim 12,wherein the entry authority information is distributed for apredetermined period of time or a predetermined number of times neededfor delivery of a luggage to the deliverer.